Caged
by radioactivewolves
Summary: Echo and her sister Mora were always best friends, they were twins after all, but when Echo is bitten by one of the "children of the moon" they travel to La Push and find love, freedom, and the push to survive. Follow the sisters as one struggles to cage the beast and one fights to be free. Set after the Twilight Saga. Includes barley any characters from Twilight.
1. Chapter 1

**_A/N: Gbrown and I decided to colab together, because I had no clue what to write about. so if you go over to my account- as of now its empty. Together we decided to make a twligight fanfic- like she has on her account. I brought up the "children of the moon" which the series touches on, but never goes into detail. We both decided that it would be really fun to create these characters. I write for Echo, and she writes for Morana/Morrie. This way they each get there own distinguished voice. I hope you enjoy the story. :)_**

**_Echo_**

I am **not** a killer. At least- that's what I tell myself. But its really hard to deny it staring at your parents bodies, mauled to death by that—that _thing_ inside of you. I'm not a killer, but part of me is. Part of me likes it. It's not my fault, really I swear. I'm sick—that's all. I didn't go out looking for this, this was never my intention, but that doesn't matter does it? Not in the end, never, because when there is a monster out there, you can't run away- not when it's inside of you. But we tried to anyway. My sister and I skimmed along the Canadian border, running from something I couldn't escape. _Me._ she'd done the best she could- but even that wasn't good enough.

Nothing was ever enough. Morana had gotten me to try everything possible, even after I'd quit trying to cure it. Mora- well, she was the opposite of me. She's always been good. Loving. Light. I've never been good with emotions. Dark. Cold. And I've always been secretly afraid that I was bad. No matter what I tell Morana. It was my worst fear- I guess. We even looked different. Morana was tan with platinum blonde hair. I was pale skinned with the most contrasting color hair- black. Other then that- we were identical. After all- we were twins.

Morrie was hope. I was despair. She was light. I had always been dark- even before the bite. She always told me that didn't mean I was bad at the core- just a different kind of good, but that was just Morrie, always seeing the good in me, even after I tore mom and dad to ribbons. Maybe she was right- maybe it didn't mean I was bad, but it defiantly meant I had to fight harder to stay good. Now that I was… this way- I had to fight even harder.

When this had first started- I killed her dog. She just stared at him and eyed his body, but she forgave me in an instant when she found my sobbing in a corner, trying to wipe the blood off my face. I had no idea what was wrong with me back then. None of us had.

When I'd… been attacked- well- I don't really remember. Just bits and pieces. Flashes. Pain- hot, fast, rolling agony. I don't remember screaming, but I do remember Morrie crying. And just how hollow I felt when I told her I wasn't going to die, even though the thing had practically torn out my thought and ripped out my insides. My vision had kept jerking, and I'm sure my eyes had too- hell maybe even my entire body. I don't really know. It was enough to scare Morrie- but then again, she hated blood anyway. So seeing her sister sliced opened on the ground probably wasn't the best for her. She still had nightmares about finding my body. Well- I suppose that makes two of us. I still had nightmares about the attack, even though I have no clear memory of it. Just that it was big with even bigger teeth. The eyes though, bloody hell those god dammed eyes. Dirty gold, dull yet piercing.

The process took about a month- slowly but surely. At first it had been little things, zoning out, dreaming of running. And then… there's just this undeniable, hot, rolling _hunger_ that burns you up. No- it's more like… well, it feels good at first. Deep in your thought, right where your neck meets your chest. It's this warm, dark, thick feeling. Like blood, but good. Then the craving turns in to full desperation. Like you _need_ to kill or you _will_ die. The ugly thing about it? It feels beautiful and right. Like you were meant to kill. Like you were in nirvana. It's a rich, warm, powerful, yet relaxing feeling, like freedom. Extasy. Then you realize what you've done and you want to die so badly it hurts.

By the next full moon I was a full-fledged monster. And I'm sure you know what I'm getting at. A wolf. A monster. A "child of the moon."

Morana and I had been traveling up the Canadian border looking for others like me and for the cure. She had tried everything- piercing my ear with a silver earring - I ended up coughing up blood and too sick to move. Wolvesbane? Similar effect. The worst part? I knew there was no cure. It only dies if you do.

But we've managed.

I am not a killer. I'm not…but the beast is. And no matter how hard I try - it never dies.

It cannot be controlled; I can't control myself.

There is no cure; I'm cursed.

But now- I could tune that all out. When we'd first run- I'd found this lovely car left for dead. So, I now considered this thing to be my baby. It was a beautiful, dark green, rugged jeep and totally sexy in my opinion. Since we had turned eighteen a few months before… the event, no one would look for us. But that didn't matter- they all thought we were dead.

With our parents… gone, and with all the blood at the scene we were assumed dead. I'd made sure of that, but faking our deaths so we could disappear hadn't been my original motive. I'd tried to cut the monster- out which sounds stupid now, but at the time seemed genius. You would do the same thing if you had done what I had. I shook my head, sharply to toss out the thoughts. I didn't want to go back there. Not now. Not ever. Clenching my hands on the soft leather of the steering wheel I turned the music on to full blast, jarring Morrie from her peaceful slumber. Ehh- she'd gotten enough sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note-**

**Hello, this is gbrowne and I write for Morana/Morrie. Please comment what you think and if you have any suggestions or anything like that please leave a review. I try my best with spelling and grammar so if you spot anything, you can say something, but I probably won't change it. Enjoy and REVIEW please!**

Morana

It all starred the day she was bitten, but a lot of people say that it was the day that everything ended. Not to me anyway though, but that isn't the point. The point was that she was bleeding in the middle of our lawn.

_ My feet pounded the black, uneven driveway, "Echo? Echo!" She looked dead like someone had stuck a vacuum up her nose and sucked out all her blood. Except the blood that wasn't in her body was pooled around her. _

_ This wasn't happening, she wasn't going to leave me like this. I wasn't going to be left alone. I knelt by her head as her black curls turned to crimson. "No, no, no," I saw the teeth at her neck and the slash in her side at the same time, "stay with me Echo, everything is alright." _

_ Her eyes rolled back in her head and her body arched like she was suffocating. I pressed my hands to the wounds and started to pray to whoever was up there. I knew two things at that time, she was losing blood too quickly and I had to start compressions. _

_ Her chest was heaving like her heart was in overdrive to keep the body running, I placed my hands on her chest quickly. The heart beat erratically like there was some type of foreign blood coursing through her body. _

_ "One, two, three," I stopped and used my wrist to wipe my soaked blonde hair out of my eyes. Her blood was everywhere; on the street, in my hair, on my clothes, on her clothes. It was a nightmare. _

_ She moaned, "I'm drying Morrie," her voice sounded faint and broken, "love you always little sister." Echo's eyes fluttered and I froze in the middle of my compressions._

_ "You aren't dying Echo," I pressed down hard on her neck, a hopeless believer just like what our aunt had said when I found a dying bird. I hated blood and death and anything that meant no more breathing. Even the smell of blood made me sick, it smelled like breathing acid and fire up my nose._

_ Her laugh filled the empty space between us in the same way water would fill lungs. It was breathless and hysterical, as the blood seemed to gush from the wounds and right through my fingers. I had to save her and time was running out. I was screaming, I realized faintly, I was holding her head and just screaming bloody murder. It was a hopeless scream that just seemed to take up air. I was watching myself die out on the cold hard ground like a puppet._

_ I took her hand in mine; the fingers were short and the nails were ovals painted with green nail polish. It was familiar like the way we would link fingers while walking to school or so we wouldn't loose each other in a crowd. _

_ Her fingers squeezed mine, "I'm not dying Morrie, I'm not. Promise."_

_ Another thing I hated, promises. I wasn't that hopeful, but I answered anyway in a monotone voice, "I know you aren't Echo. No one hears me though and I can't leave you like this to get help."_

_ Echo smiled, "You don't believe me." I couldn't lie to her even when she was dying. Never weak, that was my Echo. Time seemed to drag and the wound never stopped bleeding, but she didn't die. I had wanted to run to our nearest neighbor, but it would take me twenty minutes because he was a mile away through the rugged forest terrain. _

_ Echo kept insisting that she wasn't going to die, that she was actually healing. "I am," she whispered, "just wait. Don't go off and get them just yet." _

_ So we waited for hours and eventually I laid down next to her in the leaves. They were scratchy against my skin as I moved. My eyes flickered shut then I opened them hastily, I wouldn't sleep now. I turned over and saw the space empty where Echo was, the only thing left was me and the blood that covered the leaves._

Heavy techno blasted through the speakers and I moaned. She didn't even like techno music. I turned in my seat and saw her driving the car carefully so that she wouldn't run it off the road. She had thick black hair that was piled into a bun on her head to keep it away from her dark jade eyes.

"Morning sun-shine," she chirped unusually perky for a Sunday morning on the road. I groaned and pulled my furry brown blanket tighter around me, but the seat belt was nudging me in the ribs too much.

I flicked a strand of blonde hair from my face and sat up straighter peering out the misted window, "Where are we now? Montana or North Dakota still?" The road we were driving was vacated and damp surrounded by towering pine trees with bright green bristles.

"Montana," Echo answered and made a sharp turn that was too sharp for my taste, "and you little sister slept the whole night long leaving me to do all of the damn inferred driving."

I shrugged, "I did drive all though North Dakota if you don't remember and plus, you love this car."

She smiled and patted the Jeep's dashboard like it was her child, "Don't you? She's a beauty and a trooper, we couldn't have made it through Minnesota without her." Echo's voice dropped a bit at the word Minnesota. Sometimes I wondered if she remembered all the lives she had taken while phased or if she banished them from her memory.

I poked her arm, "Don't feel bad about Minnesota. It was a rough spot and you worked your way though it," I cocked my head to the side and smiled, "I'm proud of you. You didn't try to kill me this time around, that's an improvement, right?"

"Don't joke," Echo's voice was sharp as ice, "it isn't funny. I killed people Morana and I can't control my own body. So don't laugh about things that you just don't understand."

I wanted to explode at her to say that I was the one that understood all along, that I was the one who stood by her and took her away. She was all that I had left, but she was right. I didn't get it, I didn't understand, but I tried to.

"Sorry Echo," I said briskly, "I am still trying to cope with this whole," I waved my hands in the air to show something exploding, "situation that we have going on here."

She brushed a curl behind her ear and made another turn, "I know." Echo didn't attempt to make conversation for a while and I was content with watching the passing scenery and the occasional deer or animal. Sometimes Echo's face was stone like the night she emerged from the woods after almost bleeding to death. Her jeans were in tatters as was her favorite v-neck with blood smeared down the front like someone had poured paint on her body. She had that look, like she had done something terrible. Something unforgivable.

_"Have you gone in the house yet?" Echo asked, her voice wavered like she was afraid of what she would find when we got there. _

_ I looked back at the house which was set back in the woods, "No," I looked at her neck where there was no neck before, "want to talk about it? You know I do."_

_ She shook her head, "I don't want to Morrie," her eyes had that distant look, "ever."_

So we didn't and the subject of that night was avoided from that point on. Mom and Dad were dead, that was just the way it was and the past. I hadn't seen their bodies, but Echo had packed my bag for me after I suggested that we just leave. She wouldn't let me see the bodies, but I think it was more in the likes of she didn't want me to see what she had become.

I bit the inside of my cheek, "Let's stop at the gas station and refill on gas, food, the restroom—you know, the essentials."

"Alrighty," Echo pulled the car over and popped the door open to let in some air. I unlocked my door and counted the wad of bills we had left, ten twenties and a five dollar bill to survive. The gas station was one of the bad ones that if Mom was here, she would make me hold onto her shirt tail. I grabbed Echo's favorite sour cream and onion chips and a root beer for me.

The cashier looked at me like I was homeless, but I couldn't blame him. In the movies and they're on the run they never show the parts when you have to use the bathroom sink in a McDonalds or when your pretty sure that your hair once was blonde.

He rubbed his huge stomach contently then scanned the chips and the drink, "Just these?" He gruffed shoving them into a plastic bag in a manner that I was sure crushed the chips.

"Yeah," I met his dark eyes quickly, "just this and the gas on that car right there. The green jeep at pump twelve."

He looked out the window and froze like he had seen a bear eating a picnic on the cement; the cashier looked at me then back at the window. I looked out and saw Echo carefully wiping off the windshield with one of the plastic wipers that was on the side of the pump. I laughed; she was practically kissing the car.

The cashier looked back at me with his eyes widened, "Where are you ladies headed? Idaho?" Instantly my paranoia turned on, along with the suspicion Echo had instilled in me from the first day we were on the run.

Her words rang in my head, _don't answer questions and don't get cornered. _"Um," I scratched my head, "in that direction. I hate the sun so, we heard it was less out there."

He coughed, "There is a reservation out in Washington, its in the area of La Push. Do you know it?" I shook my head no. "They have money there for you and land if you have Quileute blood in you. Do you?"

I stopped in the middle of pulling a twenty out of my banged up wallet to ponder it. I had tanner skin than Echo, but then again she was a corpse. I didn't have the trademark black hair and bronze skin, but part of me sang that I had to be Native American.

I put the bill on the counter, "I don't know if I do, but there's a chance that I do. Money and shelter would be great," I laughed then instantly regretted it, I had said too much.

"You should go anyway," he lowered his voice and leaned across the counter like he was going to tell me a secret, "there are others living there."

Possibilities ran through my head, "Others? What do you mean by that?""

He shook his head then looked out the window at Echo who was eying the store worriedly like I had been tied up and gagged already. Was he saying that there was others of Echo's kind there? Was this the lead I was looking for?

I narrowed my eyes at him, "What do you mean specifically?"

"Never mind," he said handing me the bag, "its on the house." He handed me back the bill and nodded his head at the door, "Thanks."

I edged towards the door and slipped out with a clink of the bells that were attached to the glass door. Echo looked up sharply from inside the car and smiled, when I didn't return the smile she frowned and gestured for me to get in the car.

I unlocked the driver's door and slid in, "Sorry it took so long," I gathered my hair into a pony-tail and secured it with an elastic band, "the guy at the front was creepy."

Echo glanced back at the store then handed me the keys, "He didn't hurt you did he, because if he did I am going to pound his ass—"

I started the car and turned off the brake, "No, no, he just saw you and went berserk. He asked us if we were headed to Washington and said there is money and shelter available at this reservation. Literally, he said quote on quote, 'there are others.' What that hell does that mean?"

Some sunlight filtered through the smoggy clouds and hit me in the eyes. Echo was smiling that faint smile that was barley a turning up of the corners of her lips, "There is only one way to find out."

"What's that?" I asked speeding along the road hoping there was no cops around to arrest me.

"We go to Washington and to this reservation," she cut off my protests, "come on Morrie, you know it's the only lead we've had in a while. This could be what we've been looking for." She echoed my thoughts from a couple minutes ago.

When I didn't answer she whooped, "We're going on an adventure and it's going to be _very_ different," Echo leaned back in her seat, happier than I've seen her in weeks, "and good. This is something good that has happened to us, for once."

I frowned deeper, what if it wasn't a lead? I didn't bring it up and proceeded to shove in my mixed CD into the car. Aerosmith filtered though the banged up speakers, I smiled and hit the speed again.

Echo groaned, "Why is it always classic rock? I'm royally sick of Aerosmith and Prince and what's the other song you love? The one you always have to play when you drive. Its that awful one…"

"The Stones?" I piped in helpfully.

"No, but they stink too, its… Oh, god I really should know this one after North Dakota," she tapped her chin thoughtfully like some great philosopher.

I flipped the songs and turned it up so loud that the beats bounced off the car windows. "This one?" I yelled, turning down the window so that the music flew behind us like footsteps.

"Ugh! Yes," she propped her boot clad feet on the dashboard, "Highway to Hell. You know, I thought I was the pessimist."

I shrugged, "You aren't always right."

Echo scoffed and let her fingers trail in the air, "You know what Morrie? Hell is hot, pigs don't fly, and I'm never wrong. It's just the way it is, deal with it." And who could reason with that logic?

* * *

**Please leave comments, review, suggest, favorite, or follow - please! xo gbrowne**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Sorry it took so long, but here is chapter three. Please read, review, favorite, and follow!**

**-remainNameless6**

**Chapter 3:**

**Echo**

We'd powered though to Washington, taking turns between the wheel and sleeping. We were only a few miles from La Push when we splurged on a cheep motel. Whatever happened tomorrow would define these past months, weather it had been worth it or not. So we slept for the first real time in months in real beds. We showered in real showers, not sinks or truck stop bathrooms and got right back into the car the next morning.

When we crossed into La Push—I don't, know, I guess I kind of expected to feel different. If anything- I felt afraid. Morrie was bouncing up and down in her seat, peering out the window like she expected to see packs of wolves run up along side the car, but it was nothing special. Now- I honestly had no idea what I was looking for. A big arrow pointing me in the right direction would have been nice, but no such luck. We just kept driving silently though the woods. Gliding on wolf paws.

It was nightfall when we saw it- a huge roaring bonfire, the kind that stretches up with gold flames to lick the sky. Thousands things whispered though my mind as gravel crunched under flat tiers.

"Morrie. Listen to me. You will stay behind me, okay? I mean it. If there anything like me you will run back to this car and stay there until I say so, okay?" My voce felt cold in my thought, choppy and rough. Firm, yet uncertain.

"I know," she nodded, pulling her hair up just as I undid the rubber band in mine. We were opposites as usual. Morana declined my winter jacket, saying she was hot.

I popped opened the door, the night wind rushing to meet me. It felt good and cool against the skin exposed by my black tank top. Morrie laced her fingers though mine, just like we had as kids. She gave me a comforting squeeze, which I returned. I wanted this so _badly_, but I was terrified of what it would mean if I _did_ find what I'd come here for. Killers. I'd come in search of monsters and nightmares- the tings most people fought to hide from.

I could feel the fire now, that's how close we were. The heat boiled the air around us, making everything burn in gold hues. I glanced at Morrie, her skin glowed, and her hair was gold. Fire looked good on her, but no time for that. I had to walk forward, one step at a time. Before I new it I was up on the cliff's edge, it was full of people, ten to fifteen from what I could see. A guy walked up to me and made some lame attempt to flirt. He wasn't bad looking, all say that, but I wasn't having it. I clasped Morrie's hand tighter and pushed her slightly behind me, a growl rising in the thought unconsciously. I snapped my head and focused. They were telling a story up there- some sort of ledged about warriors who could change form and defend there tribe against the "cold ones."

Defending?

No.

Killing?

Yes.

But maybe this was just how tense people saw the beast in them, they glorified it into some sort of hero.

Morrie stepped forward, and this time I growled _at her. _"Stay behind me," I snapped. "These aren't just a group of kids out partying at a bonfire, Morrie. Now. Stay. Behind. Me."

She nodded, her eyes staring into the fire. She hadn't herd a word I'd said. The flames leapt and dimmed. On the other side of the flaming barrio was… a pair of gold eyes. My breath caught my heart stopped.

"Run!" I hissed, my voice low and feral. "Car. Now."

She blinked, focusing on me now. "What?"

"I said, run!" I gave her a light shove and she took off down the hill. I knew I should be following her. I really should have been. But I couldn't, no my legs took in the other direction. Stalking slowly, I wove my way in and out of the crowd. It was him. I knew it. It was the thing that had ripped into me like as if I had been no more then tissue paper. I closed in, my eyes fixed on the golden glare. God, I wanted to kill him. Not just the beast- but me. _I_ wanted to kill him, to make him pay.

My heart matched the drumbeat, getting faster and faster. I felt it in my thought; the warm, rich, luxurious feeling that made my blood sing. So close now, I was so close. A felt more steps and I would have him—gone. He'd vanished. I stopped, knocking into someone. And stifling a scream of frustration, I turned and raced back to the car- vanishing into the cover of the forest and smoke.

I threw open the door and plopped down inside.

I froze, my blood chilling so cold I thought I would shake. Morrie wasn't there. My heart slammed to life in my chest, screaming at me to find her, to get Morrie and run the hell away from this place. I scrambled from the car, not even closing the door as I tore off into the woods, shrieking her name.

"Morrie!" I cried, the hysteria bubbling up into my thought. We should never have come here. This had been stupid and useless and dangerous from day one. We never should have even tried, I wasn't worth it. We should have gone up to Canada and found some remote place and locked me up for good. _All my fault, all my fault!_ My head screamed.

"Hey!" someone called after me. Not Morrie: _so I don't care!_ I kept running, so hard I thought me feel would bleed and rip out of the boots I wore, but I didn't care. All I cared about was finding Morrie, but the reality was hard and twice as cold as I could get; we were in a forest full of monsters, the odds weren't good. I'd kill them. Anyone who touched her and it scared my to think that and know it was true. She was my sister. She was all I had left. She was the only thing keeping the beast from taking hold. She was my humanity. My sister. If Morrie dies- the thing that is me dies.

The person trailed behind me now, gaining speed. I ran faster then a humen. I could out run him. I would know if he were like me- just like I'd ercegnized the monster before.

"Morrie!" I shrieked one again, my voice hoarse and broken.

"Ehco?" It sounded calm, hell - a bit surprised, even. I stopped, predictably toping over my self.

"Morrie?" I called again, my voice shaking_. Please be ok. Please, please, please._

"I'm right here," she stepped out from a cluster of trees.

"When I say 'stay in the car,' I mean stay in the car! Don't go on any detours of adventures. You could have gotten yourself killed!" My voice was rising, my fear fleeting in the charge of anger. "Why are you out here? There had better be a _damn_ good reason!" I growled.

She shrugged, and a figure stepped out from behind a tree.

"We were just talking-" Morrie tied but I couldn't hear her. Not over the roaring in my heart and the screaming of my heart.

"You." My thought sounded breathy and feral. "You _killed_ me!" I felt my body lunge for his thought, with every intent to rip him to shreds.

But Morrie screamed, a long high wail and jumped for _me, _knocking me to the ground. Morrie does not posses the strength to push my to the ground, not since the bite. I'm incredibly strong and balanced. I was on my stomach, tasting dirt and blood. Something growled- well, lets make _two_ somethings.

"Morrie?" I asked, my voice rough and thick. I was bleeding. Shit. There was no response, just a low angry growl. I felt her on me - but her weight was too heavy to be her own. Her hot skin burned thought my shirt.

"Morrie?" This time I got a response, a high choking sound and the weight jerking off my back, followed by paws pounding the earth as she ran away. I stood, coughing and spiting out blood. She had made me _bleed_.

The person who had chased me stood there. Or at least- I had thought it was a person, but now it was a wolf with dark, chocolate fur. I turned back to the direction Morana had gone and took off in a sprint, the wolf following my pace. I found her first, ling under a bush… naked.

I snapped at the wolf, "Back off!" I striped my shirt, leaving my in my bra, but at the moment I really didn't care. She would never forgive me if I let someone see her naked. I pulled the top over her head, her blond hair covered in dirt. Luckily, since the bite had made me a bit taller- it stretched down on her like a dress. The wolf approached, nudging my towards a house in the distance, and at the moment, I didn't care who he was. If he could help me first, then tell me everything else later. _Oh god, Morrie. Please don't be like me. Please. Please. I could barley handle killing someone- how are you going to cope? _I took a deep breath and scooped her up in my arms, following the lead of the wolf.

"Morrie-" I whispered. "It's going to be ok. I promise. I will never let anything hurt you." _But I can't protect you from yourself. _

"Is she- is she like me?" I asked the wolf, unsure if he could understand me. A downward jerk of the muzzle told me no, or at least I thought I was a no.

I looked down at her, no blood. I remember I had woken up covered in blood after the first change and I still did now.

As I approached the house, the wolf motioned for me to wait as he ran off to what looked like a shed. A few minuets later he emerged full clothed and holding a pain of clothes in his hands. He set them down next to me with out a word and went inside to give us privacy. I pulled the too big sweats on Morrie, but kept my shirt on her, because the other thing was just massive. You'd have hard time keeping it from flashing people while you were asleep. I pulled it on - then noticed that I'd trekked a mild in my bra. Great. I fumbled with the buttons, my hands shaking so hard I had to clench them. I ran my fingers though my hair, taking shallow gasping breaths. If she was like me - I would protect her still. Maybe having me there would help her when she changed. Maybe I would help suppress the want to kill. I thought back, I'd never bitten her. We'd made sure of that. I checked her after every full moon for bites, even just to make sure. I thought back to the gold eye kid she had been with. Could he have bitten her? Well - screw killing him, now I would make him suffer first.

I finished the buttons and carried Morana inside. The house was warm and smelled like herbs. Nice, comforting, like a home. I laid her down on the couch, happy to see that blanket had already been put out for her.

I stood there for a moment, staring at her and I felt hollow again. I backed up, letting my back hitting the wall and slip down it, my legs going numb. _"Please don't let her be like me, please, please, please. It will kill her. Please. Don't let her be a monster, too." _I chanted over and over again, so quite only I could hear it. Someone came into the room, an older man in a wheel chair, they guy had to be about ninety. "She will be alright. The first shift is a bit jarring, but she will be fine."

My jaw creaked opened, "What is she?"

He smiled, he old eyes wrinkling. "A shifter. You were at the bonfire, weren't you?"

"…Yes."

"Did you listen to the ledged?"

"A bit…" I omitted the part when I'd gone on an assassin mission half way though.

"She is one of the legends - one who changes form by will." By will, not by force. Maybe she would be alright.

"You are her sister?" he asked.

"Yes. We're twins." I informed him.

"Humm…" he mused, "it is very rare for the shifter gene to only be passed down to one…" They didn't know I was a monster, thank god. "But stranger things have happened."

"W-will she be able to control it?" My voice quivered.

He gave me a funny look. "She already has controlled it. Unlike popular belief—she will not change into a blood thirst monster once a mouth. That's something else entirely. She can control it. Though her anger. Her emotions. From what I have been told - you attacked someone, and she stopped you. May I ask why?"

"No." my voice was steel and razor edged.

"Billy-" a new voice came. "Leave her alone, her sister is unconscious on our couch, give her a brake." In walked a guy about our age. He was taller then me with dark hair that curled slightly, the 'shifter' that had led us here and tried to talk to me at the bonfire.

The instant I knew what was going on I was taking Morrie and leaving. This place made us vulnerable, these people we strangers. The full moon was only a few weeks away.

The old man sighted a wheeled back down the hall. "Sorry about that, my uncle has a funny was of freaking people out… he's blunt with it."

I gave a sharp, bitter laugh. "So your related?"

"No, he's just… well he's everyone's uncle. I'm Theo by the way."

"Echo, and my sister is Morana," Crap, why did I tell him that?

Morrie moaned, her eyes fluttering. I scrambled to her side. "Hey, hey-" I whispered. "Its ok, Morrie. It's going to be ok." The bite in my voice was gone. I sounded hollow again.

"Echo?" she wishpered. "What happened?"

"Umm…" how do you tell some one this? I guess Billy had the right idea blunt is good. "You changed into a wolf when.." I sailed off.

Morrie bolted up. "What?! No!"

"Morrie- listen to me!" I shouted over her.

"No- no! I'm not a monster! I'm not!" She was sobbing now, her tears coming hot and fast. "I'm not like you!" she shrieked. I fell back, the hurt displayed on my face for everyone to see. I just stood there for a moment. I shook my head, the stony mask back in place. "Listen to me! You are nothing like me! You are not what I am! You control it! Morrie you aren't bound!" I yelled back at her hysterical cries. She stopped, meeting my eyes with her wide, scared gems. "You are not a monster." I told her, my voice deadly calm but my insides quivering. "You are not me. Morrie, you never will be." She fell against me and cried for a bit, hugging me.

"Morana! You need to tell my what he did to you!" I snapped, authority in my voice. We did not have time for crying. "Did he…"

"No- we just talked. Like I said. Why did you-" I held up a hand, glancing at Theo. "That is a conversation for another time. Not here." I helped her up, my shirt slipping off my shoulder. "Come on, were leaving." She nodded. I helped her up because her legs were still weak.

Theo jumped in front of us. "Whoa, there. Wait a second. You can't just take her. She's one of us."

"She's _my sister." _ I growled.

"You take her off the reservation and we can't keep her safe," he told me, his gray eyes blazing.

"I've protected her for this long. I can keep it up." How dare he tell me I couldn't protect her? I - well, maybe he had a point. I couldn't protect he from myself for the rest of our lives. I lowered her back down.

"Echo?" she asked, her voce small and young. I looked out the window.

"Morrie. He's right. You have to stay here. I-I'll go to Canada- like our back up plan. If I were to hurt you-"

"But you never have."

"But I will eventually." I turned. Blinking my eyes fast as I stepped out the door. "Don't worry- I'm not leaving just yet. I've got one last thing to take care of," I walked out side.

"No!" she shrieked, following me out. "If you touch him-"

"You _know_ what he _did_ to me! To you! To mom and dad! How could you take his side? You don't even know him. I _have_ to kill him. It's the only way."

"Whose is that speaking? My sister or the monster?" She snapped.

My voice was rough, like I'd swallowed nails. "Maybe a bit of both." I turned, heading back for the woods. I didn't look back, but every step was a knife twisted in my heart. I whipped a stray tear from my eye. She was safer there. I would hurt her eventually.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hey! So here is chapter 4, from Mora's POV. PLEASE FOLLOW AND REVIEW! PLEASE! xoxo gbrowne**

_**Chapter 4: **_

_**Morana**_

Echo was gone and I was alone. Alone. The word scared me. I was seeing the world in muted colors. The walls were too white and the floorboards weren't dark enough. Red was splotched where it shouldn't be and the world seemed to be spinning in a way that was unnatural. Everything was wrong.  
Someone bent down in front of my seat on the couch like they were talking to a spooked animal who would attack on impact. I didn't feel spooked, I felt trapped and angry like I was some sort of prisoner in this house.

I backed away, my back hit one of the couch's pillows that were stacked like dominoes. "Let me out," I hissed through clenched teeth, "let my sister come back." The boy shimmered in front of me like a reflection in water that someone had thrown a stone in. Dark hair and darker eyes with tanned skin that seemed to be bronze in this light. In my head his reflection twisted and his eyes grew red and he was taking away what was mine. Everyone was taking away what was mine.

He smiled at me, his red eyes tinted and shook back to dark then to red again, "We just want to help you Morana, that is your name at least that's what your sister E-"

I clutched my hands over my ears, "Don't say her name, don't you dare. Just let me go and I'll find her. You can come with me, you'll track her in the car. The green one with my favorite mixed CD that I always play. That will help won't it, I bet you could hear it from a while away." Air stretched my lungs painfully, I was saying nonsense, venting-the way I did when I didn't know how to handle myself.

"We aren't going to look for her," his voice was soft like he was just trying to get me to calm down, "because she has errands to run and we're going to take care of you. Everything will be fine, you can make friends here, and you can join the family."

I widened my eyes fearfully, they were going to try to get me to forget Echo, "No," I whispered, "I don't want your friends or your family. I want my family back and since they're dead, I want my sister. I just want my sister."

"She isn't equipped to help you anymore, but we are. We can take care of you and you can stay with one of us. You see, your sister, she isn't like you and she could hurt you badly," Theo said quickly, he was afraid of how the words will affect me.

I breathed in, "You don't know my sister, she's just," I grouped for a word the way someone might grope for a light switch in the dark, "different." His grey eyes widened like he was surprised and I realized he was the one who was trying to flirt with Echo at the bonfire. She had ignored him, not noticing him at all - she did have a terrible case of tunnel vision after all.

"The good different," I affirmed, my nails digging into the sofa. Theo stood up and brushed off his jeans like they had actually collected dirt while he had kneeled. He looked at me and his eyes didn't soften the way they did when they looked at Echo. They looked sharp and dangerous like knives. Echo would break his heart into pieces, I realized faintly. She wasn't mean on purpose, but she always seemed to have a reputation as a heart breaker.  
Theo smiled, "Why don't you just rest for now and we can talk when you're in a different mind set."

I didn't know why, but red hot anger boiled through me like he had taken a match and set flames to my gold hair. I felt uncontrollable and furious, the way I imagined fire felt when it was eating away forests. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the man in the wheel chair edge back behind the counter like I was some sort of deadly snake.

I shook, my hands clenched into fists, but they still shook as if I was standing in the snow in only a nightshirt. My mind was battling over it's self, did I tear him apart or did I relax? Relax, my mind insisted, it'll be better for everyone. My joints started to unwind as the pressure was dropped off my bones, my mind had made the decision without asking me first.

Theo grinned, "Echo would be proud." I growled and it ripped through me faster than I imagined it ever could. Angry and quick, my bones smashed and I dropped to the ground like I was having a seizure. Except I didn't flap, I shook and the change rippled through me. Claws where my fingernails should have been, my legs shifting - growing into something else. A wolf.

I groaned and wined, I felt terrible and amazing at the same time. Everything was different through these eyes, colors were beautiful. Hushed blues and electric reds danced across the frame, beautiful beams of light that I have never seen before.

As a wolf, I bristled, the hair along the center of my spine rising. Theo was much too close to me and I wanted to be angry at him, but I couldn't anymore. I was too tired and everything was too much. He pointed at the door like I was a dog and I was going to obey him, as if.

He sighed and sat on the couch, "You'll calm down eventually and then we can talk about the pack and everything. There are clothes in the shed outside for the newbies like you who just can't keep calm." My wolf growled, we hated being called pathetic and untrained. Except we stole a look at the shed and warm clothing and trotted out anyway. I stumbled on the cement steps, of course as in real life I was clumsy. At least the screen door was open, my brain quipped, we didn't have to figure out a way to open it.

The shed didn't deserve to be called a shed, really, it was just metal nailed on beams of wood that looked rotted to the black. I scooted in and laid down in wolf form, I was tired and alone and hurt. Echo didn't have to leave to go out for vengeance against him. My body shuddered on the floor, she was going to hurt him. Kill him even. Pain rifled through me, but it wasn't from the passing change - it was the mental pain of losing him. Mora, I chastised myself, you barley know him, you don't even know his name. He could be an axe murderer for all you know. I couldn't remember his name or his face, just those beautiful eyes.

It was sunlight captured by dark lashes and set back on a face that was fuzzy now, faraway. Echo had described the wolf that had changed her as merciless and evil, the eyes had mirrored the wolf and had been like razors and dull. Then it couldn't have been him, I reasoned, anyone, but him. Not those beautiful eyes.

Cold air rushed over me as my eyes flickered open to the ceiling of the shed. I had changed back and was lying in the ice cold dirt. And I was naked. Again. Carefully I stood and sorted through the black duffel bag that was lying unzipped in the center of the dirt square.

Shirt, shirt, dirty shirt, flannel, and sweats were all folded up neatly and stacked by color except everything was in men's sizes. "Sexists," I mumbled to myself as I selected the flannel and the sweats. Of course no bras were available so I took a thin shirt and ripped it open on the side. I managed to rip off the top part and tie it around my chest tight so that I wouldn't be royally embarrassed. Deftly I buttoned on the red flannel and pulled on the large drawstring sweats, tightening in the waist.

I went to open the shed, but it was locked. My temper flared, no way.

"Hello?" I shouted banging on the metal so hard I was leaving a dent, "I'm in here! Hello? Open up now, this isn't a joke. I'm not laughing," my voice was loud and pitching the way it did when I was nervous. I didn't know these people and now they were locking me in a shed, what a great way to earn my trust. I heard someone outside adjusting how they were leaning against the shed door to keep it shut. Heavy feet on ice, it was a man.

"Just let me out," I tried to reason with him.

I heard a cough, "I can't let you out, sorry. It was Alfa's orders and no one disobeys her whether they like it or not. Your stuck in there until she comes and says that your calmed down and ready to go."

I clenched my teeth tightly in my skull, I felt weak and helpless. Alone. That stupid word haunted me. Echo would have found a way out, maybe screamed and threatened until he relented or kicked down the structure. My knees kicked out under me and I curled up tightly in a ball. Everything was ice and cold, like they were trying to freeze off my very heart.

I sniffled, I hated crying, but I wasn't crying because I was upset, no. Now I was crying because I was angry and frustrated with everything. Everyone. My arms wound around my legs and I put my chin on my knee, the way I did when I played hide and go seek and hid under the sink.

"At least," I shivered, "at least tell me who the Alfa is." I had heard the words a couple times before, it meant leader or at least that's what I thought. My brain was sluggish and slow like someone had poured taffy into the gears.

I could practically see him shrug, "Leah," he said shifting his position again on the metal, "Leah Clearwater. Now be quiet and wait." Be quiet and wait. I was being told to be quiet like some little kid. Tears spilled and I buried my face in my knees, the rough fabric of the sweatpants scraping my face. My last thoughts before sleep coddled me was that I missed my sister. I just wanted my sister.

_"Mora?" The voice was harsh like nails on a chalkboard, "Morana! What in Sam Heck are you doing in there?" The red tint of the babysitters hair was orange in the fluorescent lights of the bathroom._

_My small feet kicked the cupboards that were below the counter, "Dreaming," I shrugged._

_She stalked over and grabbed my arm, but being the stupid seven year old I was I yanked my arm back. "Please come back to your room to go back to sleep Morana," she pronounced thickly like she was chewing on cotton._

_"No thanks," I had hopped down from the counter and now stood with my arms across my chest protectively. "I don't want to sleep."_

_"Well," her voice was snotty and high, "I don't care. I just want you to get back in bed and to go to sleep. Now." Truth was, I really hated her and just wanted to annoy her while mom and dad were on their date._  
_Her blue eyes challenged me wickedly, daring me to protest her. I hated it when people go under my skin, it made me want to scream. So I did. It was great screaming, especially from a little kid. One of my best, if I say so myself. I wailed and wailed like she was chopping off my toes one by one. The neighbors called the cops on her and I remember sitting on the steps of our staircase as she talked to the officers._

_"But-but, she was just screaming at the top of her lungs! It was outrageous and I couldn't get her to just shut the hell up," the babysitter explained frantically. The cop had narrowed his eyes at 'shut the hell up.'_

_The cop leaned around her and winked at me, "She doesn't look like a screamer, I'm sorry Miss Darcy. That is your last name correct?"_

_The flustered babysitter waved her arms, "Yes, but you see she's a demon and really should be taken away to juvenile hall. That's where her kind belongs." The cop looked around at the nearly furnished home with polished floorboards and perfect maroon paint._

_"Isn't that a bit extreme Miss Darcy?" He asked tapping his pen on his temple in thought, "But you see, there is no child abduction or murder so I shall be on my way. There are people who need you more than me." He tipped his hat at her, "Good evening Miss Darcy," he leaned over and smiled at me, "Good night Miss Morana, best be getting some rest now?"_

_I nodded and smiled. Echo stood at the top of the stairs with the same glint of malice in her eyes except it was layered with curiosity and fury, "What happened?" When I didn't answer She tugged on my braid, "Mora! Morrie!"_

Dark sunlight streamed through the cracks in the metal shed. I was cold and feeling in extremes. The ground was too cold, the shirt was too itchy. Nausea overwhelmed me and I groaned, everything hurt.

"Echo?" I whispered hoarsely, "Where the hell are you?" No one answered, but I didn't expect them to.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Here is Chapter 5 from Echo's point of view. -remainNameless6**

**Chapter 5**

**Echo**

I'd gone ten miles into the woods, and no sign of the gold-eyed wolf. I was tired. It had been a long day and an even longer night. I slept under a tree, shivering in the snow and wishing for my car.

And it actually looked like that wish was a reality when a dark jeep crunched though the trees. My biggest question was how that thing had even gotten though the dense woods. It pulled up in front of me, blinding me with the bright headlights. You see - I can see in the dark so this was just painful for my night vision eyes. The door opened.

"Get in," it was Theo, the guy from the reservation.

I shook my head. "I can't."

"Why not? Come on. You've got to be freezing out there!" I was. The shirt was big, but thin. I was not dressed for the weather. Reluctantly I crawled into the passenger seat. The scent of our long drives filling my brain with nostalgia. I leaned against the window, refusing to look at Theo.

"How did you find me?" I asked, filling the silence.

"Followed your scent," he responded.

Yeah- I had a pretty good nose, but I was no bloodhound. "Really?" I looked up. "What do I smell like?"

He pondered on this for a moment, "spices. Like cinnamon and cloves."

I gave a short laugh. "What dose Morrie smell like?"

"Sugar," he told me and this time a let out a real laugh. Sugar and spice and everything nice.

"How is she?" I was almost afraid for the answer.

"Upset - understandably of corse. You just abandon her when she needs you the most."

The anger roared up inside of me. "I did it for her. Everything I do is for her."

"You should know- who ever it is your so set on taking out- your sister will fight for him." He told me mater of factly.

"She has no reason to." I spat. What did he know? He'd only just met her.

"Yes. She does. I've seen it happen with some of my pack mates, it's called an imprint. When you meet the person your supposed to spend your life with you mark them. You're bonded to them."

"Are you saying," I snarled though clenched teeth, "that Morrie has 'imprinted' with this monster?"

"...Yes."

"…. I'm still going to kill him… after what he did…"

"What did he do? Mora wont tell me."

"…. He killed me." Hollow. Why was I always so hollow?

"You say that- but I'm never quite sure what you mean." What a clever way of demanding information.

"Give me one reason why I should tell you," I hissed.

"Because _I _wont tell the others. No one has to know. But I need to know that you have a good reason other then cold blood." For about ten minuets we drove in silence.

I startled him when I spoke. "I don't remember it really. Just bits. Flashes… bottom line is that he made me… this," I gestured to my self.

"And that's bad?"

"It is when you black out once a month only to find out that you've ripped innocent people to _shreds."_ My thought scratched.

"Oh," was all he said. My sister thought I was a monster, I knew I was a monster, now so did this guy. "You can't control it?"

"Not in the least bit. Its like I'm there, but I don't know what I'm doing is wrong. That's why Morrie was so scared when I tried to tell her she was a shifter. She thought she had been bitten," I explained.

"So its transferred by bite… the shifter gene is transferred by blood line. My guess is that you would have been one too."

Great - so not only had the bite taken my family and my humanity, it also robbed me of a superpower. Just keeps getting better and better. "So - where exactly are you taking me?" I demanded the edge back in my voice.

"Back to the reservation, Mora needs you. She's imbalanced right now. The first shifts are not exactly painless, and begin as upset as she is, she's shifting a lot."

I nodded, feeling guilty by getting so caught up in revenge that I let my sister fall to second priority.

"So echo, where are you from?" His voice took on a lighter tone.

"Main," I answer simply. The last thing I needed him doing was researching my past and to find the newspaper article that displayed the deaths in our home as "savage violence" and the "work of a feral, rogue wolf." He didn't need to know how messed up I was. I should have stayed with her. She had tried to help me though my changes, I should have returned the favor.

"So - when do the shifts stop hurting her?"

"It shouldn't take long, after awhile they become second nature. What about you, how long until they stop hurting?"

"They don't." my hollowed out voice answered.

"I'm sorry."

"I don't see why you would be. It should hurt worse for what I've done," my nails dug into my palm.

"But that's not you."

"Its _some_ part of me."

"Does your sister know, that you remember?"

"No, and I'd like to keep it that way…. So what else is there? So far we've got werewolves and shifters." I changed the subject.

"There are a lot, vampires mainly."

"Seriously? Dracula?" I laughed bitterly.

"I've only met the ones across the border of La Push. The ones we have truce with," he spoke calmly, like this was just another day in the neighborhood.

Before I knew it we pulled up into a driveway of a house I've never seen before. "Where-"

"The Clearwater's house. Leah is the only female shifter we've got, so we figured we should leave her with Leah." He explained.

"Really? So females are rare?"

"Here, yeah. I don't know about in other places."

"So…" I paused, thinking of the right word, "you guys are in… packs? Like wolves?"

"Yeah, there are two here. Leah was part of an older pack, but she joined ours in the beginning."

"Oh, why?"

"Don't know," he shrugged. "Had something to do with the suckers in forks. Before my time."

"How old is she then?"

"19, we stop ageing when we change. If we ever decide to stop permanently though we begin to age again." I nodded. Really, it was fascinating- that something so similar to me could have so much… choice in the matter.

"Echo-" his voice took on a lower, more serious tone. "As far as anyone's concerned your 100% human. I don't know how they'd react if-"

"I know. I'm a monster." I looked down.

"No, _different_, like your sister told me. People don't like different until they get to know it. So let them get to know you first."

We got out of the car, and I lovingly kissed the hood of the car good bye. "What?" I responded when I caught the wired look Theo was giving me. "I love that car. We're 'imprinted.'" I mocked.

He gave a quick laugh before opening the door and leading me inside.

"She's out back in the shed. We didn't want her to hurt anyone or herself. You can go in there though, but make sure you back up when she shifts…." I toned out his words. I froze, a deer in the headlights, little red riding hood coming face to face with the big bad wolf.

"Theo?"

"Yes?"

"Don't leave me alone in here. I'm going to kill him."

I eyed the golden eyes. A growl rising in my thought.

"hello." he spoke. The growl in my thought deepened.

With out a thought my body launched into autopilot, I lunged for him. For a knife. For blood, but Theo grabbed me just in time, his arms wrapping tightly around my waist and arms.

"You see that little wolf girl?" he smirked. "You're more of a monster then the wolf."

"I'll kill you!" I rasped, my body struggling to break from Theo. I couldn't explain it, but all I wanted was for him to feel what I had, to know what he had done to me. I wanted him to understand the pain he caused me. I wanted him dead, just like I was.

"My point exactly. You like the hunt, don't you? I know I did and the kill too. If you're going to be a monster, you might as well enjoy it." He snarled.

I fought to tune out his voice. How the hell could my sweet, loving, good sister imprint on _that?_ It was all kinds of wrong.

"Why the hell are you here?" Theo demanded.

He grinned, "Well, it seems that I own the sister, thank you by the way."

"You will not touch her!" I rasped.

"No. I won't. That's how I'm thanking her."

"You will stay away from my sister. Do you understand me? I don't care if your 'imprinted' or some sort of crap like that. You will stay away from me and if you touch her— I will find the most creative way to end you life." I snarled.

"I don't doubt that, but I wont stay away from her. It works both ways. She's my…mat—mine. That's something entirely different from a shifter's imprint. I _can't_ hurt her. It's impossible for me to harm her intentionally. It would hurt me more then you can imagine."

"She isn't yours," I spit, I stared into his eyes, trying to find some sort of soul in them. But they were hollow.

And so were mine. I shivered.

"But-" pain spiked though me. A ragged gasp tore my throat raw. "You should know, that I can force you to change- not just on a full moon. That's the perk of giving the bite." My back arched and I screamed, dropping to the ground from Theo's grasp. Then it stopped. I laid there gasping on the floor, practically sobbing as my bones crunched back.

"But its doesn't have to be that way." He headed to the door, "Shifter- don't come after me, you know what I'll do to her." And with that he left. My arms shook as I tired to pushed by self up, my muscles quivering like I'd just held a mountain. I fell back down, my body limp, my mouth tasting like blood. I gasped against the cooled tile. Theo helped my up and over to the couch. _Everything _hurt. My body had never stopped mid-change. It was bad enough to change once a month- I could only imagine how many times I' have to shift if he made me. I sat there for a few minuets, not enough time to fully heal, but enough that I was stumbling outside on my own.

Theo had told me that Leah had just left so Morrie was alone. My legs had only collapsed once on the way over, but my lungs still burned.

I pushed the door open with a creak. It was bigger then I thought it would have been. There were duffel bags and boxes piled up to the ceiling with names; I assumed they were the names of the pack mates. Note to self: after she stops sifting, have Theo grab Morrie's bag so she has something of her own to wear. Maybe mine too… this shirt was falling off my frame, big time. In the corner Morrie was sleeping, in her human form. She was clad in a too-big flannel shirt like me and some sweats.

I approached her.

"Morrie?" I asked, shaking her shoulder. She was so hot, like she had a fever. "Morrie, its me, Echo."

She blinked her eyes opened. "Echo?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you going to stay?" She sounded so young and weak.

"Yeah, Morrie. I'm going to stay. Together forever, right?"

She nodded, wrapping my hand in mine. "I'm so tired."

"Yeah, Theo told me the shift takes it out of you. Do you want me to go get your clothes?"

"No," she clutched my hand, "don't go."

"I won't." I brushed her hair out of her eyes. "I promise."

"Can we go inside? I'm really tired," Morrie yawned.

"Sure thing. Come on Morrie," I picked her up bridal style and pushed open the now unlocked door. Her shirt hung awkwardly on her shoulders, it was so big we could both fit in it and have room to spare, but she had knotted it so it didn't slip off. The gold-eyed wolf waited for us. His eyes meting mine, brimming with hate.

The instant he looked at Morrie… it was like he melted completely - he looked almost… sad. This was not the guy who had just threatened lives in the other room. Theo stood in front of him, like if when serious crap went down, gold-eye would have to get though him first. The steps were icy, though, and my muscles were still weak from the half-change. It was inevitable; really, I should have had Theo come get her. I could barley support my own wait. None the less- I fell and Morrie with me. My knee hit first, sending a spike of blinding pain up my spin, but the wind was knocked out of Morrie, and she gasped, trying to force the air into her lungs.

"You idiot!" Gold-eyes roared, charging forward despite Theo's attempts. "You hurt her!" He pushed me, hard. The insult I could handle, even the push, but the instant he touched my sister the world blurred out of focus and all I could see was his hand on her arm.

"Don't freaking touch her!" I shrieked, shoving him away and pulling Morrie behind me. "Don't come near her! I'll kill you!"

"Echo," morrie rasped, her breath coming back. "Echo, its okay. Nick isn't going to hurt me any more then you would." I didn't like those odds. Not one bit. Mora moved forwards an inch, towards Nick. "Its alright see?" She spoke to me like I was a wild animal- a cadged wild animal. Desperate to survive and I was. Just every bit as desperate.

Running forward, I have every intention of slashing his face to bits, but Theo lunged and my nails dug across his face. He swore, blood running down his cheek. My eyes widened. There was blood on my hand, under my nails. Horror filled me as a watched the blood fall in beads to the snow.

Red on white. The devil's delight.

I fell back, reeling. "I'm so sorry." I breathed. "Oh god, I'm so sorry." The blood stained his hand, matching mine.

"It's fine, we heal fast." _That doesn't change that fact that I just tried to rip your skin off._

Nick's voice sounded so cold in my ears. "See? Your more of a monster then me."


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I did Chapter 6. *PANTING* This took forever, but enjoy. xo-gbrowne**

Chapter 6:

Morana

I gasped air through my lungs, everything had happened so quickly like we were on fast forward. I grasped Nick's hand and tried to pull myself up. He looked at me with those golden eyes and gave me a reassuring smile.

_Echo! She was going to hate herself for this, _I thought quickly peering around Theo to see her standing there catatonic. Carefully I shakily pulled myself to my feet with the help of Nick who stood practically six-foot one.

I walked around Theo and Nick emitted a thick low growl that was possessive and needy. He caught himself and rubbed his neck absently. I couldn't help, but notice how handsome he was. A long tailored black coat was over jeans and a tight black t-shirt that showed a flat stomach. His silky dark hair fell over the collar of his jacket, cut off at his chin.

He looked at Echo who was still standing and Theo who was swearing at the blood that was coming from the three absent scratch marks that traced across his face. Echo stood very still with her curly black hair starched in dirt and her eyes squeezed shut like she wanted to just disappear.

"Echo," I set a hand on her shoulder, "everything is alright. I'm fine and so is Theo. Look the wound is practically healed and he knows that he shouldn't have gotten in the way when you're in tunnel vision mode." I left out the part where I had wanted him to protect Nick out.

She shook her head, the strands of hair flying, "I did a bad thing Mora," Echo's nails dug into her arms where she gripped them at the elbows, "a very bad thing." Words flashed in my mind from the night when she had killed mom and dad. _I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to. It was an accident. I was bad. I'm bad._

"No!" I sparked instantly and startled her out of her head so badly that her jade eyes popped open. "You aren't bad, I know you aren't. You didn't mean to and plus, Theo is an idiot." I put up my hand and fake whispered, "He's a real keeper, sis."

She snorted, the problem forgotten for the moment then flashed back, "It doesn't change anything. I should have been able to stop myself, to control myself. Everything I've worked for during the shifting day—trying to restrain myself and not to kill. Nothing worked after all."

"It isn't all for nothing," I said confidently, still feeling weak from the shifts, "It just took a second to call you back. You weren't far in there. That's something isn't it?"

She shook her head, "It's nothing Mora, hate to break it to you."

Sadness filled me, it was suffocating and overwhelming like swimming in salt. Echo looked at me for a second then over at Theo. Something passed in her eyes. It was fear. Affection. Anger. Strangely, though, mixed in there was such dejection and misery that I almost misplaced it. Though I didn't, I knew Echo. I knew she hated the color yellow and when people bothered her. I knew what I saw.

"I can teach you," Nick's voice said rumbling behind me. It was deep and burly—_home, _my mind thought faintly, _he sounded like home. _I snapped at myself, I didn't even know him that well. I had to stop this.

I looked at him, his hands shoved in his pockets and his head downcast like he was thinking deeply, "I can teach you how to control it. The beast inside of you, to make it less and less until it's barley a bug under your skin that annoys you from time to time, but there is a price…" The wind blew his hair a bit, ruffling it in the breeze.

Echo snapped to, this is what she had been dreaming of—heck! This is what I've been dreaming of. She stalked over and practically bounced. Notice the word practically, Echo didn't bounce or look excited on the outside.

Nick looked away from me and out at the space behind Echo's head, "Y-you can't let me see her or touch her or," his voice broke off and tore, "be near her. Ever. As long as I live, please, please."

Who? I glanced around expecting him to be pointing at some ominous stranger in the mist wielding some device that had scared him. It took me a second to realize what he was saying. I was she. He didn't want to be around me. I felt like my insides had been scraped out. Hallow, I almost laughed, so this is what Echo felt like. How ironic.

Echo didn't look at me or him, just at the ground. "I wouldn't let that happen anyway," she ran her fingers though her hair, "is there anything else?"

He shook his head and stalked off, the black coat billowing out in the wind. I wanted to scream at him and yell, to cry my guts out on the floor, but it wouldn't bring him back. It wouldn't bring him back to me. His voice sounded sure, _as long as I live. _

I find some way to just walk. Walk Morrie, just walk. So I do and it's the hardest thing I've ever had to do. I can feel my pulse racing and the erratic beating of my heart under my thin t-shirt, but I move. Some force in me compels me to do so, some invisible force that makes me want to just leave to forget it all. To forget him. It's an evil force I decide, no good force would want me to forget someone I cared for. Everyone has a little good, everyone has a little evil—except suddenly I felt like a bad person. A terrible person and I hated myself for it. I hated him for making me feel this way, but most of all I hated him because I couldn't hate him. I try so hard, but I just can't.

Echo chatters on beside me about Leah and how she is letting us stay in the spare room of her house. How nice, she comments happily skipping next to me. I wanted to scream. I wanted to scream like I did back with the babysitter. I wanted to just cry on the ground and kick and wail, but I couldn't. I knew it wouldn't bring him back. I couldn't cry this one out. No one was going to save me now. Fear crawled into the put of my stomach. It was a pitching feeling like someone was stabbing me again and again.

I looked over at Echo as she explained the pack to me like she knew everything that Theo had told her by heart. Did she not notice I was bleeding out? Could she not see that I was falling to pieces right then and there? A terrible thought weasled it's way into my brain, clouding my thoughts till they were nothing. _She doesn't know me like she thinks she does. _For a second I imagine how I must look in her eyes. Curly blonde hair and soft green eyes—weak, helpless—something that needs protection from everything.

Except I didn't, I was a wolf for God's sake.

I started to run towards the woods then, breaking away from Echo. I heard her call my name and Theo say I needed to just blow off some steam. Steam, I almost snorted. This was a whole lot more then steam, I was boiling with anger and resentment. I wanted so badly to be happy like Echo was, I wanted to be able to accept this, but every core of my being fought back against it.

Soon enough I was shaking and changing. It flowed over my fluently now like water and where a teenage girl once stood now was a powerful wolf. My grey fur started to bristle at the cold air that was blowing off the pounding ocean. I ran the borders and the tree line that wrapped around the La Push property. My heart beat faster and faster till I thought it would literally fall out of my chest beating on the ground.

Faster, I chanted, the trees swerved around me, tall and large with out-stretched branches.

_Faster. _My feet ached like they were bloody from all the rocks sticking painfully into my soft paws. My head spun with anxiety, I would run till I couldn't run anymore.

**_Faster. _**I was barely breathing, the air was wisping back and forth through my lungs so quickly that it was like I had never taken a breath before. Someone had put blinders on my eyes, I only saw the trees in front of me and the rotting logs, the scratchy bushes that brushed my legs, the fallen logs.

I fell over panting, the wolf had finally broke and I couldn't move. I changed back and slipped on the worn jeans, the black shirt, and the essentials I had tied around my ankle with a bungee cord. Theo had made me do it and now I was grateful for the clothes.

Nick. God damn him. I stood weakly and wandered out so that I was walking along a dark road that kept pace with the huge hulking trees. I balanced on the white line carefully that divided the side of the road from the trees. Time left me as I walked deeper and deeper into the forest.

I heard a car's engine behind me, I glanced back and saw Theo speeding to catch up with me. Startled, I staggered backwards a bit and suddenly there was someone—revision _something_—over me. A white face that was apparent in the darkness and a sickly sweet smell that seemed to be everywhere.

"Well, well, well," the thing leaned over me menacingly, "what do we have here, but one of Leah's little pack. Such a sweet thing, I might just have to spare her."

I heard Theo behind me, "Emmett!" His footsteps got closer and closer till he was practically pulling the thing away from me with sheer force. I was so grateful I could breathe in the fresh pine air.

The thing Theo had called Emmett _smiled _and clapped Theo on the back like they were best friends. "Sorry Theo, just scaring the new kid on the block. Leah had Seth tell me that they had a new member," Emmett leaned in towards me like he was examining my face. I growled at him, too close. "Shes a feisty one, Theo. Better keep a sharp eye on her."

Emmett winked a gold eye at me then focused back on Theo, "Take her or leave her, Theo, I don't have all day." Emmett was too prefect, too everything and something was seriously off.

I stared at him, "What the hell are you?"

Theo gapped and grabbed my arm, "Let's go Mora, you've met Emmett and I'll explain everything in the car, alright?" His nails went into my skin a bit even though they were short, but I wasn't relenting.

"What are you?" I asked again, this time looking at his strange eyes that looked all too fake like contacts that people wore on Halloween to color their eyes periwinkle blue.

He shrugged, "A vampire," he flashed his teeth, "like what you see?"

"A blood sucker?" I instantly jerked back behind the invisible border hauling Theo close behind me.

Emmett's eyes flashed and before I knew it, he was lunging at me with a hiss that was all to surreal. My life flashed before my eyes and I fell backwards on my own feet.

_I'm going to die, _I thought frantically as he seethed looking at Theo and me. Something clicked in my head like someone had turned a lock or put the last puzzle piece in. It was strange, like some sort of pull on my head.

Frantic feelings filled me, but they weren't mine.

_Morana? _It wasn't my voice. I was hearing voices in my head, _great, _I thought sarcastically. I was going to be eaten by a vampire and to top it off I was hearing voices in my head.

I heard it again, _Morana! Are you there? _I was vaguely aware of Theo yanking me back and telling Emmett to watch it. He dragged me to the car and buckled me in.

He shook my shoulder, "Are you alright Mora?" I nodded then drew my knees around me and tucked my head on top of them. I could still see his eyes as he lunged for me. Flat pounded gold swirled with blood-red metal, sickly sweet smells that seemed to suffocate you entirely.

I then shook my head, "Theo," he looked at me, "I heard a voice in my head when the vampire attacked me. It was so strange, like having a walkie-talkie in my brain. Am I going crazy?"

"No! No, you aren't but there is someone I want you to talk to before we head back to Leah's house," he chattered. "And, Mora?"

I nodded him to continue, but he waited until I responded, "Yeah Theo?"

"If I catch you provoking the vampires and calling them names other than their real names I will tell Leah. You should know that Leah is a sure force that is nothing to be reckoned with," Theo explained while tapping his fingers on the wheel nervously.

I shrugged and crossed my arms, "What is this, the wild west? A sheer force to be reckoned with? You make it sound like she has loaded pistols in the back of her car and a friend named Jimmy who is loyal to her till his bullet riddled death."

Theo smiled, but it was more for my sake than his. "Yeah, well, do what you want, but she isn't one to have a trial then an execution. It's more execution then trial then the hospital. Plus, it all depends on how fast you can run."

"I'm fast," I said smugly as Theo pulled the car into some dinner parking lot. It had no windows and was painted a dead brown that made it look like s cake after you stabbed it. A rusty-red sign hung above it declaring it _Bernie's Dinner_.

He reached across me and popped open the door, "I've seen you run, Mora, she's a lot faster than you, trust me. I've had her on my hide more than once and once she has you, you're as good as dead."

"I won't point out how inappropriate that sounds, just tell me who your friend is who I need to talk to," I slid out and landed barefoot on the hard cement. It was cold and slippery so I gripped the ice with my feet.

Theo grabbed a pair of over-size running shoes from a bag that was sitting in the passenger seat. "Here, you don't seem to get as hot as me and Leah do. It's like you have a smudge of fever, but that's it. We're supposed to have an abnormal body heat, but it seems you got an abnormality," he handed over socks. "My friend works the counter."

"You'll wait here?" I asked while lacing up the shoes. I really didn't like the idea of anyone else leaving me tonight. He nodded and gestured towards the black tinted doors that just looked like they attracted rapists and molesters.

I took a breath and let it out through my nose slowly. The door swung open and the dinner lights flickered. It was a cozy restaurant with red leather booths tucked around the border and a long sweeping counter that supported a variety of baked goods. Girls who waited tables sat on the counter managed to file their nails and fix their uniforms at the same time.

The one I assumed was the hostess smiled at me and took out a plastic menu, "Hello, my name is Kendra and I'll be seating you today. Would you like a booth or a seat at the counter?"

"At the counter please," my thoughts flashed back to Theo huddling in the car, "and can I get a cheese burger to go? With fries and a Diet Coke, if you have it."

She nodded and tightened her ponytail, "Yeah sure, just pick a seat where ever." I uneasily climbed up into a chair the same time that a woman with hazel eyes wiped down the space in front of me.

She smiled and looked at me in the eyes. I gasped with my hand on my mouth, she looked exactly like Nick. The same hair, but lighter fell around her face and down her back in wavy curls.

She looked at me then at her mustard stained uniform, "What, what? Do I have something on my face? In my hair? Is there a spider somewhere? Does it look deadly?"

"No," I sighed and played with the carousal of straws in front of me, "its just. Ah, well, I'll spit it out. Are you, by chance, related to Nick…" _Heart, _the last name flashed in my mind like I already knew it. I didn't though. I rubbed my temple, I was going insane and Theo just wanted someone who wasn't him to tell me.

She looked unsettled for a moment then circled around the counter and hopped up on a stool that matched mine. I couldn't tell how old she was, maybe twenty some, but her petite facial features made her seem so much younger.

"Nick Heart? Is that the name you were thinking of?" I nodded and she continued, "Yes, I am related to him. He's my little brother—in fact, I'm nine years older than him."

I stared at her, "Do you know what happened to him? How he," I lowered my voice, "changed." I wasn't going to break the news to her that he brother was a werewolf who went all furry and blood thirsty every month.

She smiled sadly then took my hand in hers, "I know all about it, he told me himself. Said he had to find more about it, that he was afraid of what he could do and what he did do. Picked up and left town for two years then came back with a lot of stories and folklore about the change. He visits me from time to time, but he really isn't there," she stopped and scooted her thumb under her eye. "My name is Thorn, by the way, Thorn Heart. My parents must have been insane when they named me."

I laughed a bit then added, "My name is Morana and my sister is Echo, so maybe they were friends?"

"Probably where, those crazy hippies, but not the point. You wanted to see me about something I'm assuming. Nick probably. That boy, what did he do this time?" Thorn asked quietly like she was fearing the answer.

I pushed my hair out of my face, but it refused to move due to mud smeared on my cheek. God, I probably looked like a nightmare when I walked in. "No, Nick is fine, I just wanted to talk to you and see if you understood something. My friend heard what I said and then he drove me here to talk to you."

Thorn dunked a paper napkin into the glass of water and started to wipe the grime off my cheek, "Okay, shoot. Whatever it is, I'll do my best to help you understand it."

I cleared my throat then recapped Thorn on everything, "My sister was changed into a werewolf around seven months ago. We picked up and traveled here, looking for more information on the werewolf. Things that could help her control it. We heard something about them being here and came here. I was at the bonfire with the other kids from the reservation when I seemed to 'imprint' on someone. Echo freaked, I changed, and everything went to hell. He was the one who had changed her and now I was a shifter who was constantly changing. I got locked in a shed and long story short, the guy was Nick and I'm hearing voices."

"Oh my god! That is so great! I can't believe this, I just can't!" Thorn explained while jumping up and bouncing on the balls of her feet.

I gave her a look, "My life went to hell and you tell me it's great? That wasn't really the answer that I was expecting. I was hoping for maybe a little advice or some information, but _that's great _isn't cutting it."

"Oh, yes, while once I explain, everything will make so much more sense," she hopped back on the stool and grabbed me by my shoulders, "listen first and then ask questions later. No questions, at all. Got it?"

Carefully I consented, "Please don't make me regret this Thorn."

She laughed then went serious again, "The great gods that created the shifters didn't forget about the werewolves. They didn't hate the werewolves or make them defects of the shifter race. The werewolves are a race of their own. Fast, strong, but dark…like their soul is brimming with guilt. Truth is that they fit in more with the human race then shifters do. Think about it, they change once a month compared to a couple of times every day-"

"But, when they change they kill people," I interjected.

"I said no questions till the end," Thorn reprimand and suddenly she looked years older. "As I was saying they fit in. The great gods then decided to find a way to bring light to their darkness and happiness to their misery. They created a perfect half of every werewolf's soul and placed them on earth. The mate brought order to chaos and took away the darkness. In return, the mate was protected and loved by the werewolf. They were all that the werewolf saw and to strengthen the link, the greats made a mind link."

I froze, "You're saying that Nick and I…we…"

"I'm saying that you'are his mate and that he needs you to survive the same way that you need him," Thorn explained patiently, the look of excitement gleaming in her eyes.

I looked at my hands, "Then we aren't mates because he refuses to look at me, to talk to me, to love me."

She scooted closer and wrapped an arm around my shoulders, "That isn't it, he doesn't think he deserves you. He is so wrapped up in the people he has harmed that he doesn't see that he could never, ever hurt you—the greats made it that way. He loves you, I know he does, but he is just punishing himself."

I looked up into her expressive eyes, "Does he know about mates? About everything you just told me?"

"Yes, he does, but I don't think he sees it. He will though, it'll hit him straight on the head like a load of bricks. I know my brother, trust me," she stood me up straight and grabbed a to-go plastic container off the counter and handed it to me. "One cheese burger?"

I took the bag and hugged her tightly, "Thank you so much Thorn, it means so much to me. You have no idea what I've been through."

"I have a clue," she responded and for a second I saw the weary look that I wore in my eyes everyday. "Stay safe, its dark outside. When he does see, you will love him?"

I smiled, "I already do and Thorn?" She looked up, "I'll visit you."

"I would love that, now go, before your food is cold," she pushed me towards the doors lightly. I slid across the ice over to where Theo was sleeping in the driver's seat, eyes closed with drool.

I climbed in and poked him in the ribs, "This is a mugging," I tried to deepen my voice, "give me all you got."

His eyes flew open and he frowned, "Not funny Mora," his eyes flicked over at the food hungrily. "Is that for me?" Without waiting for an answer he took the bag, bit into the sandwich, and drove the car from the lot.

We didn't talk, but it was a comfortable silence littered with 80's disco songs that filtered through the dented radio. The trees were silhouettes against the navy blue sky and the wind pressed through the trees like phantoms.

Theo hummed, I closed my eyes tightly willing sleep or something of the sort, but none came. I stretched and rubbed my forehead as he rounded the corner to get to Leah's house.

Four houses away.

Three.

Two.

One.

I got out of the car with Theo and we both shouldered easily through the icy wind till we got inside the warm kitchen. The sight I saw was something I will never forget, ever.

Echo stood in the kitchen drinking tea from a glass mug casually leaning against the stove top. I could smell **_him _**it was like finding my heartbeat in my chest. It was the smell of fresh air, sunshine, and pine needles.

She came over and the jacket slipped a bit, it took me a second to register all the things that were moving through my mind. That was Nick's black jacket wrapped around her thin shoulders. She was wearing my jeans and an exposed -_exposed_- blue bra. She smelled like pine needles. I edged away from her uneasily.

Theo caught my elbows from behind, "Are you alright?" Which meant: _Are you going to change?_

Echo edged towards me then threw her arms around my neck, concern plastered all over her face. "I was so worried about you, never do that again. You could have been killed!" He was all around me, in her hair, on the damn jacket.

"Theo," I warned. My hands were clenching in the jean material at my sides and I couldn't stop the shaking as her arms tightened around me.

He moved faster than I thought he could, pushing Echo three feet across the room and moving me away. I felt like I was going to explode into a million pieces all over the floor.

"What's happening to her? Let me see my sister," she tried to get closer, but I backed away as the shaking became violent. _I'm going to explode. _Emotions filled me again; panic, worry, and love. Except they weren't my feelings and it was driving me insane.

Theo pushed me back and grabbed Echo as she tried to get to me. My voice was breaking, but I forced it to work.

"I trusted you. How could you, god dammit! I gave up everything for you! Everything. I'm nothing, you took all I had left. You stole my humanity. Can't you see I'm bloody, I'm bleeding! I'm dead! I'm hollow, just like were." It ripped across my skin, but this time wasn't like water—it was fire and pain. Sweet pain that stopped the shudders.

She screamed and screamed and screamed. Theo held her around the waist tightly like she was going to vanish. _I hurt, _I thought as I backed through the door, _I hurt, but no one will hold me. _

"Morrie!" She yelled, I could imagine the tears that slid down her face. Wasted tears and broken hearts, that was all that was left.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Hey, it took a while because poor gbrowne had to spell check and grammer-ize everything. If something is spelled wrong, I'm so sorry. Read and review please.**

**_Echo_**

"There's no way you're going with him," Theo's voice startled me out of packing. I closed my eyes, feeling cold and empty. "I have to," I rasped.

"No, you don't. When the moon comes we-we'll lock you up somewhere. I don't know. We'll make it work, but you're not going with him. No one is making you do this."

"_I'm_ making myself do this. For me. For everyone I've hurt and their families. I'm doing this because I can't go around knowing that I could hurt someone at any given moment." My voice was hard, edging on anger. Theo was pissed. So was I. that didn't change a thing. I was still going. I'd made up my mind. Morrie knew I was stubborn as hell, and she'd told Theo as much, but he'd kept arguing with me.

"Echo, you're not going to hurt me."

"I hurt everyone." I let the acid drip into my thought and color my words. I was sick of arguing. "Besides, this means I get to keep Nick away from Morrie. It's a win/win situation."

"Not for me," he shook his head.

"This isn't your decision, Theo. It never has been. You don't know what I do. You don't know what I am," I growled.

"I know _you_. I know that you hate the wolf. I know that you love your sister and that you'd gladly lay down your life for her. I know that you'd fight until your last breath for something you beeline in. Face it, Echo. I know you. Your angry, bitter, sarcastic, and a bit self-loathing."

I scoffed, "Thanks."

"But you love your sister, your protective, passionate, determined; a fighter."

I shoved a sports bra into the bag…. Then shoved in all of them. I was going to be doing a hell of a lot of changing. Elastic worked better then a normal bra, I could keep it on longer. Ugh- great, I shuttered. Morrie's boyfriend was basically going to see my naked. Yippy. My humiliation was complete. I'm sure Morrie would be thrilled.

"I'm going, Theo. I'm sorry that you don't like it- but I'm running out of options- hell, I've never had any. The full moon is coming, and there's no stopping it. So I need to figure out how to stop myself instead."

"You don't need to do this-"

"Yes. I do."

I scoffed, like I was being a stubborn child, and sat on the edge of my bed. The mattress creaked, the springs were old.

The anger roared into pure frustration. He would never understand. He wasn't listening. "When I was…. Bitten- I didn't scream. I didn't cry when it dragged me down and tore at me. I didn't cry because I wasn't afraid. It was like; well, no use in that now. You're going to die and you know it. There was no reason to pity your self. I was so sure I was going to die- but I fought it off and managed to make it to my house, passed out on the lawn. Even when Morrie was _screaming_ her head off I hadn't been afraid, yeah it was painful- but I hadn't cried or screamed."

"Mora said you couldn't remember," he whispered.

"At first I couldn't. For the longest time I even lied to myself and said I didn't, but I always have." I shook my head, staring at my hands. "After my first change, when I came to… I did know what happened at first, of course. But when I found the bodies I knew what I'd done." I sat down next to him, leaning my head on the wall. "I screamed then. Cried, too. I'd just murdered my parents. I guess I killed apart of myself then, too. I locked Morrie out of the house, cleaned myself up the best I could. I was _covered_ in their blood. My mother and my father. I couldn't live with myself. I still can't."

"Did anyone look for you? People must have known there were four of you in the house."

"No. I had left enough of my own blood at the scene for anyone to think Morrie and I had both been killed." My mouth tasted like sandpaper and knives I at the thought.

"How did you…"

"How do you think?" I challenged. What I'd done to myself back there I didn't like to bring up.

"Echo…" he wrapped his arms around me, pressing his lips to my forehead.

"Do you see now?" I mumbled into his shoulder. "Do you see why I have to kill it before it kills me?" I'd do anything to be free of this. And that made me dangerous.

"I do," his voice rumbled deep in his chest, vibrating against me. "But I don't want you to go with him. I'm not the slightest bit happy about this."

"I know. I'm not asking you to be, but if this works- if he's telling the truth- I will be."

He nodded. I sipped the duffel bag and hung it over my shoulder. "Thank you, Theo. You're a good friend. I cant remember the last time I've had a friend, really. Its just been Morrie and me for so long, I guess I forgot what I was like to have someone else." I turned and walked out the door. The screen slamming behind me.

Morrie looked sad, her eyes on Nick like her heart might just break. "It'll be a week tops," I put a hand on her shoulder. She still just stared at nick, looking like a thin glass. I gave her a hug that she tried her best to return. She felt tense, like all she wanted to do was run to Nick. I bit my tongue. I was her sister. Blood first, right?

I got into Nick's car, wishing it was my jeep.

The whole way we drove in silence.

Nick had a shed similar to the ones the sifters used; it was way out in the woods, still in La Push territory. The differences I noticed as I walked in were the hard, thick walls, no windows, not even the high up ones. Ropes and chains were fashioned against the wall. There were deep gouges in the wood, like claw marks.

"So just how long have you been here?" I asked, looking at everything at once.

He shrugged, "Few months."

I walked over and picked up the chains on the left side of the wall. They rattled across the floor as I dragged them up. I drooped them and- feeling extremely uncomfortable- pulled off my shirt and my jeans, setting them out of the way so they wouldn't get caught in my claws. Nick helped me fasten the chains onto my wrists and ankles while I did my neck. This was going hurt.

"Ready?" he asked.

I took a deep breath, "Yeah."

"Remember to focus, don't shut it out or blackout. Stay conscious."

"I know."

Then it started. The eclectic tingle down the spine that fractured into pain as my vertebrae moved under my skin. My spine arched and twisted. My fingers clawed at the ground, the claws ripping off the skin of my fingertips. I felt the change crash though my body, my legs, my arms, and my face. Like the bones were being smashing to my place with a jagged, burning hammer of acid until they fit the picture. I knew I was screaming, I could feel it in my thought, burning up my lungs with the change. No one could here me, at least that what he said.

I tossed my head up, screaming until it became a howl. I twisted, pulling against the restraints until I bled. It was too much. I was going to black out. Every bone in my body was snapping and bending, poking against the skin, trying to turn my inside out. My eyes rolled up in my head, my face was braking now. Smashing in. My legs were snapping and twisting. My shoulders crunched. I could feel my ribs and breast bone press against my skin. My teeth ached, clenched and crackling. The fangs pressed into my lower and upper lip, sending blood into my mouth and the thunder roaring. I screamed again, a long, painful sound from the bottom of my thought. A battle cry, a wail of hunger, the howl of my hunt. Pulling, ripping, tearing again the restrains, needed free, hunt, prey, run. Need needed. Needed. Gone.

I came to on my stomach I'd changed 16 times so far. With shaking hands I pulled on a pair of jeans and a bra before I collapsed shaking and bleeding where the restraints were.

"It didn't work." I croaked, I'd gargled blood and rusty nails.

"No." he looked up. "I'm so sorry echo. Your hunger is too strong."

I closed my eyes, tears threatening. I couldn't kill it. I was so tired. I would hurt for weeks after this. "Can I have the key?"

He nodded and un-hooked the color and cuffs, pulling my up from the ground where I'd been forced to change continually for hours on end—splotches of blood, I couldn't tell then apart from when I'd stared to vomit up blood and from the times I'd torn my skin with the restraints.

Nick, noticing that I was out of shirts, draped his leather jacket over me, I pulled my arms though the sleeves.

"Do you want to try again?" he asked.

Do I want to? No. But- "I have to." But my eyelids were already drooping, my legs falling out from under me. I was just so tried. If I could lay curled up on the floor for the rest of eternity - I would have been content.

But Nick fell back, slamming against the wall, sending me falling.

"Nick?" my voice shook.

"We need to go. Now!" He pushed me out the door and into the car, revving the engine to life and tarring off.

"What the hell is going on!" I yelled.

"I don't know! All I know is that Morana is in trouble!"

"Then what the hell are you doing? Drive faster!" I was wide-awake now, my mussels burning and throbbing under my skin. Nick tore down the highway, speeding way over the speed limit. I wasn't complaining.

We arrived a few hours later, Nick swerved into the drive way and grabbed a phone. Morrie and I didn't have cell phones so I called up Theo, who had clearly been asleep.

"Mmh?" he answered.

"Where the hell is Morrie?" I snapped.

"Wha-? Oh, she's having diner with a friend of mine," he sounded more alert.

"Is she ok? Nick flipped out and called off the whole thing."

"She's fine, a vampire across the border got a bit pissed at her, but he was just playing around. Mora got scared, though. She's alright now."

"Where are _you_ then? I told you to stay with her."

"Relax, I'm sitting in the parking lot waiting for her. Your car is very comfortable by the way," I could practically hear the smirk in his voice.

"Yeah, well, rest up because Nick is going to kick your ass when you get back. He's having a break down in the corner as we speak." To tell you the truth, he was pacing like a mad man, but he was a second short of a break down.

"Okay, tell him she's fine. I'm sure she'll be done soon. If you want you guys can meet us down here. We're at the dinner."

I relayed the message to Nick, who looked relived enough to pass out. Nick said he would meet them, but wanted to shower first. I hung up with Theo, who was falling asleep as I spoke to him. That guy needed to get more sleep.

Speaking of sleep…. The kitchen counter was looking very welcoming. I pulled up a chair and closed my eyes against the cold marble. I just couldn't seem to fall asleep. I walked over to the cabinet and made some tea, in hopes that it would calm me down. Before I knew it, the screen door opened and I was up like a shot.

"Thank god!" I ran over to Morrie, pulling her to a hug. "I was so worried about you! Never do that again! You could have been killed!" Morrie looked at me confused for a moment, the horrified. That's when I noticed I was wearing a bra, and an opened jacket. Self consciously, I held the sides together. Great, it looked like today was officially lets-see-Echo-in-her-bra-day. Who next? I asked myself hypothetically… and then Theo walked into the room. Great, my mind growled. Lets just have a big party; I'll keep the outfit on too.

Morrie stated to shake, falling back. Theo grabbed her arm, "Are you okay?" It was spoken like some sort of code. She didn't answer. Theo's eyes widened and he jumped forward, grabbing me by the waist and pushing me out of the way. Morrie was going to shift.

"Morrie!" I yelled.

"I trusted you! How could you? Goddamit! I gave up everything for you! Everything. I'm nothing, you took all I have left. You stole my humanity. Can't you see that I'm bloody, I'm bleeding! I'm hollow just like you!" Her skin rippled, like snakes trapped under skin. I felt the breath leave my lungs, some invisible force pushing it all out until I was lightheaded and dizzy. I twisted trying to reach her. I had to tell her- _had to tell her_- that I'd never meant to hurt her. I wasn't even sure what I'd done to upset her, but I would never hurt her. She was my sister, I loved her with every bit of myself until all I had left in me was her, but while my sister had been my humanity, I had been hurting her because she had had to be strong when I had been weak. Once a month, she had to put up with all the hell I put her tough. I felt tears stinging. I'd been poison. Killing morrie with out even knowing it.

"Morrie!" I shrieked.

"Just let her run it out, it'll be okay Echo."

I spun, "No!" I shoved him back, but the changes had left me weak, so it didn't do much more then nudge him. He still held onto me, refusing to let me run after her. "Nothing has ever been ok! I hurt her! She never had to go with me - but she did! I poisoned her in return! I hurt my sister! Don't you get it? I hurt the only person that means anything to me!"

At the worst possible moment, Nick ran in, in nothing but a towel. "Where is she?" He yelled panic-stricken. "Morana?!"

"And you-" I stated in, "you hurt her too! She loves you and you hurt her, doesn't that mean anything to you?" I stormed out of the room fuming, aching, and bleeding.

_I kill everything I touch. _

Morrie wouldn't have allowed me to even think that before, but maybe not— maybe now she would agree with me. I had taken everything from her. Sure, maybe she didn't have to break every bone in her body, or wake up a bloody mess, but she had to take care of me then. The aftermath. I guess I'd always compensated for that by protecting her, by guarding her every breath. Now other people were taking care of her, and, I realized, I didn't have Morrie to take care of me. Once I'd left her live, even for a small amount of time- she realized just how much of a burden I was. I realized just how much I relied on her.

With out her it was almost like I couldn't function right, I didn't know how to. Morrie, she could adjust, but I didn't know how to adapt.

_"I'm hollow just like you!"_

I'm sorry that I made you that way. I never meant to harm you. Please, please, please I swear. I never meant to. _But you did, you did and if she leaves you alone- then you've gotten what you deserve, if you have to change with out her this month, then you deserve it. You dammed monster. You deserve to suffer._

I closed my eyes, sliding down the wall of the bedroom. I let the hair hang in my face. I was so tired, everything _hurt_. But most of all my heart, which I was pretty sure had died back in that room. It was even getting hard to breathe; maybe I should have been a bit concerned. I didn't care. I didn't care what happened to me, if I lived tomorrow or died today.

And that scared me.

I slid over to the bed and pulled the covers up over my head. I needed to sleep, I needed to eat, and I needed my sister. God I was going to throw up, I rolled onto my back, feeling sick to the core. I'd focused so hard on physically protecting my sister that I hadn't noticed she was breaking inside. I have never been good with emotions or reading people- that was Morrie's strong suite, but I knew my sister and I should have known I was hurting her. I should have known.

And I was an idiot; I was lying in bed, trying to sleep while my sister was hurting somewhere. I should really give Nick back his jacket, which was tossed across the floor, but it hurt to breath so I could only imagine how it would hurt to move. But I did, I slid off the bed, morning as I hit the floor. I grabbed a jacket, I'm not sure who's, since I was fresh out of clothes and inched it over my head. I scooped up Nick's jacket and limped out of the room, making pathetic little sound of pain with every step I took.

"What happened to you?" Leah asked, noting my pain.

I hesitated for a moment, she couldn't know about me, "Cramps," I complained, finding the irony suiting.

"I don't have anything around here, but if you want I can run to the market and grab some Tylenol for you."

"Thanks," I said earnestly, it would help the sore mussels. "That'd be great."

She head out, and I heard the rev of her car's engine. I tossed the jacket to the ground. There was no way I would make it three steps out side but I had to try. Nick was already out looking for her. I didn't really want to see anyone right now. I just needed to find Morrie.

I pushed opened the door, and tired to close it. My arms were too weak, and I only got I half way shut. The cold air met my like a slap.

"Need a hand?" Theo asked, catching the door and pushing it shut. "I figured you would come out here for her. I also figured you wouldn't make it far and you freezing to death out there is not exactly appealing. Morrie would kill me." I nodded, walking towards the woods, Theo training behind. The snow was fluttering down, coating everything. It was frigid out and everything was too thin, Morrie's jeans were too short, but my snow boots covered that.

I was up my knees in snow, trudging though. I got father then I thought I would have, we made it pretty deep into the woods. My head was throbbing and my vision was flickering in and out. My legs kept failing and I knew I wouldn't be able to keep getting up. I fell back against a tree. If moved my entire being would unravel and I would turn to acid and flame.

Theo sighed. "Hold this," he handed a bag full of clothes. He stepped back a good ten feet. The shift poured over him like water, dark fur washing over him. He was bigger then the average wolf, with thick chocolate fur and eerily human eyes. I stepped forward, toppling over on a slippery patch of ice. The wolf leapt forward and caught me before I could fall completely. I stared at him for a moment. My hands buried in his fur to keep from falling.

"seriously?" I laughed. "You want me to get on your back? You're a wolf- not a horse," I scoffed.

Theo chuffed, the wolf equivalence of a laugh, dipping his muzzle into a nod. Reluctantly, I climbed on his back, the fur was warm and thick. When you looked close enough, you could see all the colors mixed into it, the blends of reds, blacks, browns, and blond fur creating a mosaic of oil on water. Mine was just straight black. Perhaps it was a shifter thing though, Morrie was gray and white, a spectral of shades. Maybe shifters just got nicer fur. I leaned forward, resting my head in between his shoulder blades, breathing in his sent—as odd as that may sound. It was something I used to identify people. Morrie was sugar, nick was pine needles, Leah was an ocean breaze, and Theo smelled like rain and the mountains.

My long, curling black hair fell over my shoulders and against his fur, swaying with every step Theo took. He was much faster as a wolf, the powerful canine legs propelling him though the dense groves. When I changed, the legs were longer then an average wolf, my teeth were bigger, and my claws were also bigger and sharper.

What would it be like when I changed this moon? Who would I kill? Morrie and I had tried the chained-up-in-a-cell thing before. I got too strong on my change-moons. Nick's shed wouldn't work for me. From the research we'd done, we had found that females were especially blood thirsty and uncontrollable, so what worked for him would not work for me. I wasn't at my strongest when Nick forced me to change, but soon I would be. I shuttered.

Slowly, I drifted off to the thoughts of wolves and monsters burning into my mind...


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Yes, yes you love us-two chapters in one day. Read and review loved ones!**

Morana

It was very eerie outside. The kind of eerie that gave you goose bumps and made you double check the locks on your door. Mist rifled through the trees and the moon hung low and crescent in the sky like a deflated balloon. I had changed back, which meant I was wandering through the forest barefoot in only a jacket and undergarments.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid," I muttered to myself as I inched through the thick moss that coated the path like the slimy trail of a snail. It was slippery and unstable under my feet—walking on on ice.

_Let me in goddammit! _I heard Nick echo around in my empty head. The stubborn, bossy, impatient werewolf had been pressing on the barrier I had thrown up hastily in my mind. It managed to hide my thoughts from him, efficiently I might add. I could see him clearly in my head and I wished I couldn't. I wished I saw the blurry blob I saw before, but his face was stark in my dimly lit mind. Golden eyes set back in strong features, inky black hair that managed to always fall into his eyes. It was a torture of the worst device, the kind that could drive you insane if you let it.

Walking was the sort of thing that drove all thoughts out of my mind and let me wander on. It was strange, like I had forgotten about all my problems—I could just walk away and leave them behind. I could just keep going and never come back. Echo's screaming face flashed in my mind quickly like a bolt of lightening. Dark curls framing a familiar face and jade green eyes.

People had always said that we were exactly the same, but different at the same time. The hair was a give-in, I had a froth of gold and she had a cloud of black. The eyes through were almost more different in themselves. Mine gleamed a soft electric green and hers were the most exotic green you had ever seen. The green jade of a Chinese pendent, the green fields in the summer time, dazzling emeralds on velvet—it was hard not to loose yourself in them.

I stumbled on something in the dark. Having mixed genes backfired in a lot of areas for instance body heat and night vision. I couldn't see my own hand infront of my face which made the ground look like a very dark abyss. I tripped again, except this time my chin dug into the ground. Uneasily, I sat up and rubbed my jaw tightly. Get yourself together, I ordered myself quickly.

_Morana, please. _Nick whispered. His voice killed me like drinking posisn or overdosing on drugs. Broken and helpless like he thought he had failed in everything he had ever set out to do. Except I didn't have to guess how he felt, I knew. He hated the world for doing this to him, he hated feeling helpless, and he hated me for making him weak.

That alone was a punch in the gut. I pulled my self up again and before I had even set my foot down fully, I was slipping and hitting the ground again. The angle was odd and managed to jam my arms into the rocks behind me and for my hip to twist and snap. My feet were sticky, my head ached, and my mind fell a bit.

He rushed in, filling my soul with his light. _Where are you? Please love, I have to find you, please. _Nick was breathless from running. I wondered if he was close to me, if I had a chance of making it out of here alive. _Of course you will, of course. Just tell me where you are. _Great, now he was eavesdropping on my inner thoughts.

I steadied myself, _I don't know. I fell and I can't get back up, everything hurts…_

An angry roar filled the space, desperation and frustration. _You will never be out of my sight again Morana, I swear to God. Stay with me love, all right? Lets talk about something. Anything._

I frowned and tried to ignore my slowly freezing feet, _What about the fact that I __**am not **__your love? _Hurt emotions radiated from him. _Oh, no, you do not get to feel hurt about this. I have been trying so hard, but it's like your blind Nicholas. It's like you can't even see me and don't make me bring up the whole Echo issue._

He was getting closer, I could feel his heat and electricity through the air like it was my oxygen. My air. _You are my love. Mine. I can't let myself love you. Don't you understand? Haven't you seen what I've done? To you and Echo? I've done bad things to good people who didn't deserve it. I am not good enough to love something as pure as you._

I chocked down some air through bruised windpipes, I missed him so much. Just talking to him was feeling a piece of my soul click back into place. It was a piece I hadn't realized was missing. The piece that I needed the most.

_But I don't care. That wasn't you. _I was trying to stay conscious for him, but air suddenly was hard and toxic.

He was running to me now, I could see his mop of black hair. _It was part of me. _It was so faint I could hardly hear it in my mind. Nicolas was there, everywhere. He was close enough to pick me up when he froze, the flashlight beam darted around me.

"Holy," he breathed aloud. "This can't be happening! I can't let this happen to her," Nicolas muttered what seemed to be to himself. He swore a kicked something, hard. I heard the thump as whatever it was launched into the distance. Swearing again he growled fiercely, I whimpered.

"No, no, no love, that wasn't meant for you, I would never—could never hurt you, ever. I'll never let anyone hurt you. I'll always protect you," he bent down next to me as his warm eyes melted me.

I groaned, "I missed you, so much."

"What happened to your pants? You're freezing," he tenderly wrapped a thick grey blanket around my shoulders and lifted me up. It was strange the way he held me, like he was terrified of hurting me, but he held me gently against his chest. Protection, I almost laughed, he was protecting me. Was it hard enough to believe? Yes, he treated me like he hated me…then this. It was more like he hated himself. The flashlight swayed a little and I could have sworn I saw a pair of huge dead eyes staring at me from the ground.

I looked down alarmed, "Nicolas? What was that?"

"Morana," he pressed his forehead to mine making it harder to think, "don't look, okay? Just close your eyes and stay with me. I have you." I turned my head into his shoulder and breathed in the thick musky scent of pine. It was too easy to forget everything; he made it so easy for me just to let him take care of me. Nicholas's chest rumbled as he walked, like he was content or on edge, it was hard to tell.

I sighed, "Nicholas?"

"Yes?" His voice was deep and worried, like I was lying dead in his arms.

My head felt heavy, "I-I," my tongue didn't want to cooperate with me, "I don't want you to leave me. Promise not to leave me. I don't want to be alone," I whispered. His arms tightened around me. Safe, my mind sang, we're safe.

"I won't leave you little one," Nicolas promised, "I love you too much."

And that was when my head gave up the battle.

_ Echo glanced at me, "Full moon tonight."_

_ I brushed my hair away from my eyes hoping she couldn't see the way my hand trembled. You don't care, you don't care, I thought quickly like a mantra. I couldn't care about what she did because there was nothing I could do._

_ I nodded slowly, "I know. You'll be fine, I know it," I breathed in quickly, I didn't know it. "We get closer and closer every day to finding out a way to control it. Just try a little harder tonight," I whispered. She knew I was lying, I knew I was lying, but neither of us pointed out the truth._

_ "I'm going to go," Echo said vacantly like she had already checked out for the night. She stood by the flickering television screen as it struggled to work. Grey flickered to black then back to red. _

_ I curled up on the musty motel bed's ugly floral blanket, "If that's what you want to do. I'll be here waiting for you." My arms wrapped around my knees and my head tucked into my knees like I was eight._

_ "That's what I want, alright?" I nodded. "Then I will be gone all night. Don't let anyone in and don't order room service, you'll get attacked. I can't be worried about you and this at the same time." _

_ I didn't respond, just stared at the flickering television. I heard her snort and unlock the door like she would never understand how my mind worked exactly. The door relocked back as her converse clad shoe stepped out. _

_ Sometimes when she left me alone I would wander through the hotels looking for someone to talk to. Other times I would sleep or read, anything that distracted me from my own reality. Tonight I sat on the bed staring at a broken television. No tears slipped down my face, too many had fallen already. I just stared on and on waiting for answers that never came. _

_ The next morning she walked in and rebolted the door. She didn't mention the fact that my eyes were bloodshot and that the television was still on, I didn't mention that she looked half dead. It was just too easy to lie._

First my hearing came back, then my feeling. There were voices mixing together like run-on sentences making it hard to hear. It hurt and I wanted to tell everyone to stop talking at once, that it hurt my ears—I couldn't talk. Worry filled me, I had to remind myself that it wasn't my worry I was experiencing, it was Nicholas's.

I tried to steady myself as best as I could, _Nicholas?_

_ Morana! Thank God! _I felt arms slip around me as a possessive growl echoed through the room. Voices mashed together, I tired to concentrate on Nicholas's arms around me and the sound of his voice in my head.

The headache intensified. He made a sound in the back of his throat. _What is it love? You're hurting; don't lie because I can feel it in myself. Tell me what I can do to help you. Thorn is doing everything she can to patch you up._

_ Can you tell everyone to just leave? I can't take it and my hip is killing me, _I told him through the bond. I felt him put is head against my neck and breath in and out like my scent it's self calmed him.

His voice boomed in the small room, "I need everyone to clear out," when the pounding talking started again he added, "now. Including you, Echo, you are part of the everyone I was referring to."

"She's my sister! How dare you do this Nick," Echo screeched in a very loud voice that made my ears pound. She seemed to be the last one left in the room not including Nicholas who was trying to keep his cool.

He shook against me a bit, "Morana asked me to tell you to leave. She can't take all your constant talking, so I advise you to leave."

"She would never ask me to leave, I need to be there for her," her voice had lowered to a seething deep that I would never mess with. It was the voice that told you to take three steps back or your hair would be shaved tomorrow morning.

Nicolas exhaled into my hair, "I know what is best for my mate, leave Echo."

"Oh now she's your mate huh? Well you weren't acting like this five hours ago. You were acting like you hated her. You have to make a choice Nick," Echo breathed quickly.

Even though it hurt, I managed to get my hand to work. I felt like someone had ran over my hands with bulldozers then shoved me into a bad fistfight. Nicholas growled as he felt my pain, but I threaded my fingers through his.

_Nicely, _I thought to him, _tell her nicely and she will leave so it can be just us. Then we can talk. _He brought my hand to his lips and kissed it gently. It was barely a brush of the lips, but it seemed to revive me a bit.

He cleared his throat, "Please Echo, I need some time with her alone."

I heard her scoff, "She told you to do that."

"What?" Nicolas asked innocently then smiled into my hair. I heard her drag her heels out the door. It was like he was holding his breath, because the second she was out the door he was examining me soothingly. My eyes opened slowly, his features coming into view gradually. His eyes trained on my face, he leaned forward and brushed his lips against my forehead.

I groaned a bit when he ran his fingers lightly over my arm, "Outch, still damaged goods," he growled, "there isn't anything you could have done. I chose to go running ramped through the woods and it's my fault that I tripped on…Hey, what was that?"

"It was a message, left for me," he explained ominously.

I raised my eyebrows, "What kind of message cowboy?"

Nicholas smiled and wrapped a large blanket around the both of us, "Cowboy?" He wrinkled his nose a bit, but it just made him look more adorable. "Where did that one come from?"

I twisted in his arms a bit a threw him a smile, "Have you seen your long, black coat and your chivalry? It makes you look like a cowboy, along with this messy hair," I brushed a few strands away from his face. "You're trying to distract me."

He sighed, "How did you know?"

I shrugged, "I know you now. Your trying to protect me from some kind of information that will most probably rattle me up a bit. Just spit it out, I can't be some ignorant little kid who is protected by everyone."

"They were offerings for you, I suppose," when he saw the questions in my eyes he continued, "another…um…wolf must have known I had finally found my mate. You see, there aren't enough females that are eligible to be mated with my type of wolf so that makes them valuable. Females take away our darkness, they give us control. The male, whoever he is, saw that I was refusing you as my mate and is trying to tell you that he wants you as his mate."

My head spun, "Some guy I don't know wants to take me as his mate?" I shuddered and his arms wound around me tighter, "I won't take him as my mate, I can't not when I…"

"You what?" His forehead wrinkled as he watched me.

I ran my fingers through his hair and his eyes fluttered shut, "Not when I love you Nicholas." His eyes cracked open and he dropped one hand from my waist to inspect a gold curl. Pain surged through my hip, but when he worriedly looked me over I shook my head.

"You don't know what you're talking about, no one could possibly ever love me back. It isn't possible," he murmured softly. I placed my hands on the sides of his face, forcing him to look me in the eyes.

I bit my lip, "That's a lie. I love you, not because you're an adorable cowboy or the fact that you're my mate. I love you because you are pure and good, you make me feel lighter and happier. You take away my pain, Nicholas."

"I do?" I nodded. "You take away mine Morana, everything always seems better when you're there like I can make it through the day. When I saw you there, lying in the dirt next to those…sacrifices, hurt and wounded—I hated myself for letting something so good be hurt. I realized that the only way I could make sure it never happened again was if I let myself love you," Nicholas furrowed his brow then looked down at my hair, "I had loved you since the day I saw you at the campfire. It is only now that I realized what life could have been without you and I can't live that life anymore."

I shuddered a bit and nuzzled my head into his neck, his arms automatically wrapped around me, "I can't live without you cowboy." The temperature in the house dropped a bit and he tucked me into his arms more.

"I love you so much," he vowed.

I squeezed my eyes shut, "I love you Nicholas." I poured everything into those words I know it struck a core in him.

He laughed a bit, "You know that no one calls me by my full name, but you. It's always Nick or people are too scared to even approach me."

I frowned. "Oh, do you not want me to call you that? I can always call you Nick if you want, it doesn't matter to me Nicholas," I said quickly, a bit embarrassed for slipping up. Blush spread across my face, had meant to call him Nick, but it just came out.

"No!" He exclaimed a bit alarmed, "It sounds good coming from you," he paused then looked down as his cheeks reddened a bit. "How about I stop talking?"

I laughed and he leaned us down pressing me into the couch cushion. I ignored the pain of my hip and felt happiness brush over me. He gravitated toward me, but managed to keep his weight off me by propping himself up with one arm.

"Is this okay?" I nodded and he tilted his head so that he was only inches from my face, "What about-"

I had wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him to my lips. His lips brushed against mine lightly then harder like he couldn't get enough of me. I ran my fingers through his dark hair as his lips trailed down my collarbone. Fire was running through my veins. I broke apart for air, my heart racing.

I pressed a hand against his heart to feel it beating rapidly. Nicholas kissed my nose playfully then grazed my cheek with his lips. The door slammed open and stood there was a seething Echo and a smiling Thorn who was bouncing up and down on her feet.

Nicholas was in front of me in seconds, in a defensive position and a possessive growl. Echo lowered her head then her eyes shot over to me. I tried to smooth down my tangled hair and to make my swollen lips go back, but it seemed useless. I went to stand, but my hip seared with new pain.

"What the hell?" Echo exclaimed.

Nicholas growled deeply, "Stay back."

Thorn caught Echo's elbow before she could march over here and get ripped open by Nicolas, "His mate is injured and he was finally, finally I repeat starting to form a bond with her. It isn't something you really should interrupt. Got it sugar?"

Echo shot Nicolas a look, "Don't you dare pressure her into something she doesn't want right now or I swear to God I will rip out you heart and watch you die."

I gasped, the metal image was terrible, I saw Nicolas lying there helpless in my head, and I shook the thought away, "Echo! Don't say anything like that, all right? It isn't fair." Nicholas growled at Echo for making me worried then shifted so that he was closer to me as I struggled to stand.

"What? Do you love him? You couldn't possibly. Sure he is your mate and all that crap, but you barley know him. He is just some guy who wants to make-out with you Morrie, he doesn't care about you," Echo snapped. I jerked up and fell against Nicholas who caught me stiffly, he was staring at Echo.

Nicholas went to spring, but I grabbed his arm, "Don't cowboy, just drop it."

He nodded and wrapped a possessive arm around my waist, "I love her Echo and I know her better then anyone. She knows me. Did you know that mates give us control? She took away my darkness. I will always love and protect her, whether you like it or not."

Echo shook her head, but didn't say anything—it was Thorn who spoke, "I know a way to heal you faster," Nicolas curled his arms tighter, "to fix you up good as new with no damage done to your hip."

"What is it?" I questioned doubtfully. "And how would you know?"

She crooked a half-smile, "I'm a shaman, for the tribe and I know. You have to take the blood of your mate. Not enough to kill, of course, but a mouthful would be fine—we aren't vampires. It would also complete the mate bond so that the other male couldn't take you away from Nick."

Stunned I leaned a bit heavier into Nicholas, "Which is?"

She smiled and cocked her hip out, "Knitting your souls together."


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Sorry for taking so long. Life gets in the way - but here it is!**

**Chapter 9:  
**

**Echo  
**

"Hell no," my voice was cold, strong, and pissed off. "No," I repeated. "There is no way I'm going to let my sister do that… especially not with him." I had been pacing up and down the halls for what felt like hours. Theo leaned against the door frame, looking annoyed.

"Calm down already," he said exasperated. I must be very tiring to deal with. "I get that you hate him. But Mora does not. She loves him, Echo. Just… quit fighting her, will you? A mate is the lycan equivalence to an imprint- its natural."

"It's different," I insisted, "It's not just a protection thing. It's a real, permanent, physical bond. If he hurts her- she won't be able to get over it."

"Imprints aren't as strong, I get it. And the whole blood thing is just plain weird. But Mora is hurt. If she could take your blood to heal- you'd do it in a heartbeat. Don't you think Nick feels the same?"

"Always with the emotional advice- this is why I don't do well with the touchy-feely things, and probably why you irritate me so much." I scoffed. Really, I did appreciate it- without Morrie to tell me how to handle things I was seriously struggling. I shrugged, slumping against the wall. "It's not my choice. Morrie has to decide on her own, doesn't she? And your right. She's hurt and she needs it. But I just can't stand the thought that he's going to be with her. It makes me sick to my stomach."

"A few days ago it was set in your mind to kill him, and now it's not an option anymore. I get it." Theo replied, trying his best to understand me.

I sat against the wall, stretching my legs to other opposite wall, wincing at the pain in my mussels.

"How did it go? The changes, I mean," Theo's voice startled me out of my aching bones. I cast my gaze down, feeling the back of my eyes begin to ache.

Truth be told- I wanted to talk about it; to scream and yell and fight, because it wasn't fair that other's got to live and I didn't. it wasn't fair that I would never be able to control myself and I would never get to wake up clean of blood and death. But I just wasn't ready to talk. Because a little part of me had died, the part that was hope. And right now my little sister was in the other room seriously hurt because I couldn't always protect her. I felt like I'd failed in too many ways.

Theo's face fell, seeing my expression. "You'll find another way, Echo."

"…. No. I won't. There isn't another way. I can't do it- I can't control myself."

"Yes, you can. You jest need more time," he reassured me.

"Do you know how many people I've killed, Theo? Do you know how many more I will kill? I can't keep doing this. I can't live like this- knowing I could black out and have slaughtered twenty innocent people," my hands shook in clenched fists. "What the hell am I going to do this time?" I sounded broken, weak, young. I hated that.

"The shed Nick took you to-" he stated.

"No, that won't work for me," I told him, "I'm stronger then Nick. I'd rip right out of the chains and probably tare the face off of whoever would be with me."

"We'll figure something out. You and Mora always came out fine."

"No we didn't. We never did. I'd lock her up a motel room and drive as far as I could to the lest-populated area. And that wouldn't be enough." Once a month I'd wake up covered in someone's blood, tasting it in my mouth and down my thought.

A door swung opened and Thorn walked in. "Don't sit here moping, Echo. Smile, you sister found her soul mate."

I scoffed at her cheery tone. "Smile" was not on my list of to-dos.

"Come on," she waved me up, "wouldn't you like to learn a thing or two about yourself?" She baited and I snapped it up. It was not every day you came to encounter someone who actually had solid facts on lycanthropes.

Theo stood, "I've got patrol- if I miss it this time Leah will skin me and make a nice fur pelt for herself," he explained as he turned to leave.

Thorn nodded and led me into a room. It was dark, but the air was warm and comfortable and I settled right in.

"First- I will start off with mates, since your probably very worried about that. Morrie is immune to Nick's bite. She will never change from his bite. Nick and Morana have a sort of mind-link. One knows when the other is in trouble or any sort of emotion. They can literally feel each other's pain, so no killing my brother," she warned sternly. "By mixing their blood together, Morana and Nick will bind their souls together, so even in the next life they can find each other."

"Like reincarnation?" I supplied.

"Exactly. Some souls bound in past lives don't recognize the bond- it's tragic really. They suppress everything the bond gives them- control, mind-links- even the shifter-side imprint goes ignored. But I don't think that will happen to Nick and Mora any time soon." Her voice softened, "… Look, Echo, I know you hate my brother- but he is truly sorry for what he did. Nicky thought he could work it out on his own if he went out into the world, but he couldn't. He realized that when he saw what he'd done to you, he came home and I started to look into the history of lycanthropes. You be surprised how little sources there are. The voultory destroyed most of them- they're not a fan of your kind. But don't worry about that….. anyway- back to mates. Having a shifter mate gives a lycan control. It makes the changes less painful- to the point where they're the same as a shifter's. it really is wonderful- I'm so happy for Nick. Its… just amazing- think about it. Two people so destined for each other that they can connect their minds and their souls and heal each other by blood."

"Yeah, sounds like a real fairy tale," the sarcasm colored my lips and I instantly felt bad, Thorn was just trying to help.

"The moon approaching- it makes you shorter tempered, less controlled?"

I nodded sheepishly.

"Then I suggest you accept Morana and Nick's relationship now before you get any worse. If you come to terms with it now- you won't resent them later on. It's better for everyone this way. Safer."

I felt the growl rise in my thought, but squashed it before I could prove her right. It did make me worse.

"I know. I accept it- but that does _not_ mean I agree with it. But I and working on that," I told her earnestly, getting up to leave the room.

"Echo," she stopped me. I turned, facing her. Her dark hair framed her face and her black eyes grew serious. "Your sister- I know you love her and want to protect her. When she was in the woods someone left her an offering. To put it simply- another lycanthrope wants your sister. Having a mate increases the positive side of lycanthropy and gets rid of the negative. It's an old ritual, to leave kills as tribute to a female shifter if she has not imprinted with him. She slipped in blood- Nick said there were animal carcasses everywhere."

A few minutes later, after much inner turmoil, I went to see Morrie. Yes, she had been angry with me- that's why she stormed off and got herself banged up, but we're sisters- live and let die, right? That's how we were- we'd fight and get over it, no blood spilt. But in this case, there was blood. I could smell it on my skin, in the air, all around, crowding down my thought. Nick exited the room and I tried not to glare at him. Morrie needed him, as much as I hated to admit. If they completed the bond- Morrie wouldn't be at risk. The other werewolf couldn't "claim" her.

There wasn't much to do, as I sat beside Morrie fidgeting with he hem of my shirt. The girl was out cold. And she looked like she was in so much pain that I didn't, not for a second, wish for her to wake up. blood was splotching thought the bandage and every now and then I had to leave to clear my head. Deep down I knew I should be in there, there was too much blood and too many opportunities for me to hurt her. After a few hours I gave up, leaving her with Nick as Thorn went to get something form Leah's for Morrie to wear.

I frowned. Thorn didn't expect me to sleep here, did she? The apprehension played on my face. The front door opened and I stiffened but instantly relaxed when I recognized the sent. Wood smoke, and mountain. Theo trudged though the door, looking tired as hell.

"Good morning," I chirped after checking the clock.

"Morning?" he complained. "Already?"

"Yep- almost 3AM," I grabbed a mug off the counter and made use of the coffee machine. He slouched in a chair, looking half asleep. "I will assume you're tired and not just pitifully board of my company?"

"Shifting takes it out of you- running with your pack mates for a couple hours? Twice as bad."

I took a sip of the coffee and Theo stared up looking pitiful. "What? You didn't think this was for you did you?" I taunted. I smirked and handed the steaming cup to him, which he downed in seconds.

He blinked hard, looking more awake. "Why are you in such a good mood? I'm pretty sure I missed something."

"I'm not really sure- my sister- who is in unbearable pain right now- is going to bind herself to Nick once she comes to, I've only got a few weeks until I turn into a crazed beast, and some _other_ killer lycanthrope is after Morrie. Crap has gone to hell- There's just this point where you _have_ _to_ laugh about it." I plopped down on the couch.

"That bad of a day, huh?"

"Yeah, well- in compassion to others it's been alright." I kicked my feet over the armrest, a quilt sliding half off. "How was- what did you call it?- patrol?"

"Average- we run laps around the woods and chase any sucker that gets too close to the border."

"You never talk about you pack," I commented. "I want to know what its like. What's it like being in one?"

"Loud. Nonstop talking in your head- sometimes having a telepathic link with them is awful. But it's a family- we put up with each other."

I nodded. I had never had a big family but I got the idea. I stood and walked over to the window. It was black as hell outside, but my lycanthrope eyes scanned the shadows, seeing as clearly as if it were day. I kept my eyes low, peering into the forest- not wanting to look up at the half-moon, to acknowledge that time was running out. I turned for the window, leaning against the sill.

Then I felt it- the same hair-razing electric chill that I had felt when we found Nick. I froze, eyes widening, mouth half opening. Theo froze too, but only for a moment. There was crash and I took off like a shot, leaving him in the dust. he was here- who ever had left Morrie the offerings was here to claim her. Fear ran clear though my skull like a hot-iron stake. _Morrie._

I couldn't breath. Maybe it was because I was part wolf- that I felt the need to protect her, maybe its because she'd always been my baby sister, or maybe it was just my way of repaying her for all she had done for me. if it weren't for Morrie I'd have gone off the rails by now, I'd be a killer with no restrain, no morals, no self-control. Like this guy. Sometimes- when I got really bad, Morrie was the only thing that held me together. we were family- by blood, by spirit, by all.

It was too quiet. Nick wasn't yelling, I could here the tell-tale sounds of a fight. But then, Morrie's scream priced the silence and my vision turned red. I burst though the door to Morrie's make shift room, not even noticing that I had ripped it off its hinges, or the fact that my hands were bleeding from ripping it off. My heart literally- literally- stopped. The window was broken, the point of entry I was guessing. Nick stood on the other side of the room, back against the wall, face ashen. At first I didn't see Morrie. But when I did I gave a sort of strangled cry and threw myself forward until a voice stopped me.

"One step closer and I snap her neck."

**A/N: ok- I know I've been AWALL. But its not my fault. This took impossibly long to write because we kept changing it, and I half-assed the grammar (sorry) because it kept delating. The next chapter should be up soon.**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: So sorry it took so long, but here it is! Read and REVIEW!**

Chapter Ten:

_Morana_

The word was foggy. Someone was yelling and there was a sharp pain on my neck that was cutting off the air to my brain. I shifted and the hold tightened too tight, I gasped. People were talking placidly, someone was yelling, and there was a pressure in my mind.

_Morana! _It was Nicolas, I realized vaguely. I tried to respond, but I was still hazy from the pain medication Thorn had given me. Think, think, think—I begged myself, but I was slow and so tired. My eyes wouldn't open and they just drifted more shut. My lips felt cold.

Someone else was talking, a new voice I knew. Thorn, my mind reminded me, that's Thorn. The pain on my neck heightened as whoever was holding me snaked an arm around my waist. It felt like ants burrowing under my skin where he grazed the bare skin on my stomach, my white t-shirt rode up.

A growl. Another growl. Everyone was growling. Someone was moving me, someone shorter than Nicholas. Someone who wasn't Nicholas. My brain pointed things out to me as they became obvious. _We were cold_, my wolf yowled, _we were too cold._ I struggled to breathe through my lungs. The wolf holding me had moved outside and was carrying me through the snow at an inhuman speed. The wind hurt my head and he finally let go of my neck, only to press his lips against mine.

It would have been a chaste kiss if he wasn't squeezing the dear life out of my stomach. I felt woozy from the medication and weak, my eyes still refused to open. _Where was Nicholas?_ My wolf was going insane. _He is supposed to save us. _He was moving again. Quicker. Faster. I was flying. No seriously, I was flying through the air. A branch caught my skin and dragged, but before it could do anymore damage arms caught me. Familiar arms. Echo.

"Echo?" My voice was garbley and strange, it was hard to speak.

I heard a relieved sigh, "Yeah just me your sister. Thank God that son of a—"

"No swearing," I reminded her numbly. I was still freezing, my bare toes felt so numb I wanted to wiggle them to insure myself that they hadn't fallen off.

She let out a choked laugh, "I know, I know. I swore off swearing. Are you okay, hurting anywhere?

"She wouldn't know," I heard Thorn pant, "she is on a butt load of pain medication." Echo must have given her a look, "What? We all can't run like werewolves you know!" Pause. "Oh, the pain medication thing—well, it made the pain go away right?"

I grunted a yes. Echo shifted me in her arms, "Nick is coming asap. Just has a little…business to take care of with that little crap weenie of a werewolf. I can't believe he made it through your window."

I whimpered, "Nicholas?" I couldn't feel him in my head through the medication. His face swam through my thoughts.

Echo growled to herself, "Is coming Morrie then we're taking you to his place where you can rest until the medication wears off. Wait," she turned abruptly, "the medicine needs to wear off for the whole blood palooza, right Thorn?"

"Yes, which will take her a while I hope," Thorn whispered, "that bruise looks pretty nasty. I might be in college for botany, but I don't have to be a nurse to know that isn't going to heal easily. Mora just got jipped on the healing aspect of shifters, so she heals as slow as a human would, sadly."

I felt him then, Nicholas. "Nicholas?" I whispered as his arms wrapped around me. His forehead touched mine gently and one of his hands brushed the air away from my face.

"Are you hurting, my love?" His voice was rumbly and husky; I wished I could've seen him.

I shook my head and nuzzled closer as he walked, "Just cold, but I'm getting warmer." And I was, my feet were warmer and so was my chest as he lumbered farther into the forest.

"We're almost there little one. He should have suffered more for what he did to you. Attacking me is thing, taking my mate is another. I will never let anything happen to you again," Nicholas held me tighter.

I was too tired to respond. So I spoke through our minds, _I know. I love you. _I was passed out before he could even return the words. Sleep spread over me like a tidal wave and it wasn't long before I was in that deep part of sleep where darkness cradles you close.

I gasped, my eyes fluttered open and my mouth was agape. Pain cycled through my hip and up my body. Nicholas was there instantly, "I have you, and it's going to be alright. I'm here."

He took me into his arms and kissed my jaw below my earlobe. "You saved me," I whispered, "I was going to be taken by that crazy guy and you saved me."

Nicholas stroked my hair, "Of course I did, I will always save you. You're mine little one and I love you infinitely. I am yours. No one will ever tear us apart." I noticed our new surroundings as the warmth of his love flowed through me abolishing some of the pain away. The bed we were in was huge with long wooden posts and breezy curtains typed back by twines of velvet. A black couch was under a tall window, the grey light blocked by the thick curtains. The vaulted ceilings rose higher giving me the impression of an ancient castle.

I smiled, "Is this your room?"

He shrugged, "Yeah, though I never spend enough time in here always on the go during one full moon to the next. I never stayed in one place. Never knew how to control the hunger. Now that I do, I'll stay here with you."

I blushed a bit, "So technically this is my room too. I would tell you to make room for my stuff, but I really don't have anything. Most of my stuff was left behind when I took Echo away."  
"We'll get you some clothes and books, whatever you want really," his eyes were earnest, kind. When I was little I never imagined a happily ever after with my prince. I had always pictured college and learning, thousands of books at my disposal. College was out of the picture, but books?

I patted the bandage on my hip, "I could never ask you to do that. That's a lot of money that you shouldn't have to spend on me."

"Money isn't a problem, do you see this place?" He nodded around us; "My parents gave Thorn and me so much money it's ridiculous. They owned some stocks in the stock exchange and sold them for some ridiculous amount of money. I'm pretty sure they still play the market, just not as much."

I leaned closer; the hum of pain startled me again. Nicholas sat up and leaned in closer, "You're hurting."

"That really wasn't a question Cowboy."

He tilted his head back, "We have to do the blood ceremony so that we are knitted together. You'll heal."

I bit the inside of my cheek, "I don't want to hurt you."

Nicholas leaned in and kissed my temple gently, "It won't hurt me, but it does hurt me when I see you in so much pain when I can do something—anything to fix it. Just bite."

I gulped and leaned in; I had to wrap my arms around his neck. His scent wavered around me as I pressed my nose against him. Carefully I kissed his neck gently then bit him. It was strange and all at once blood filled my mouth and I had to remember to swallow. It didn't taste like blood and it didn't taste good necessarily. I drew back and wiped my mouth with the end of my sleeve. Then I wiped Nicholas's neck gently.

"Are you alright?" My voice was trembley and cautious, expecting him to explode.

He winked at me and kissed my nose, "More than alright," he kissed my cheek, "that was absolutely amazing."

I rolled my eyes, "Oh god."

He chuckled and pulled me closer, "My turn." I shook a little as he swiped my hair to the side and kissed my shoulder and my neck. "I'll be gentle, promise." Nicholas grazed my skin with his teeth then bit. There was a sharp pain, but then it felt good. Like running through the trees free or dancing like you won't stop. It made me feel drunk on his love.

Nicholas pulled away and kissed away the blood. The wound was already healed on him and I could feel my skin closing around my neck. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him closer to me.

"That was very nice indeed," I smiled.

He grinned, "I concur," Nicholas closed the gap and placed a firm kiss on my lips. "No more talking." He kissed me, drawing me closer and holding me tight. I wished it could have lasted forever.


	11. Chapter 11

**Echo**

_Running. Faster then I ever had. Faster. Faster. Run. Can't stop. Cold. Rain. Light. Night. Storm. Screaming. God, why is there_ so much _screaming? Blood now, coating my hands, filling my head. Intoxicating. Toxic. Addictive. Delicious. Posin._

I woke up sitting straight up in bed, blankets twisted in my fists, a half-scream still in my thought. I panted, shivering with sweet. It hadn't even been a week since Morrie's almost-abduction.

I took deep shaking breaths, blinking hard. I couldn't think. Couldn't put a single thought together. My face was wet, I'd been crying in my sleep. I gave my head a sharp shake, trying to snap into focus. I just couldn't. I'd been having nightmares night after night. Each the same, each diffent, each its own brand of terrible. My hands were shaking now. I felt delecet, like glass, like a leave in the wind, fragile. Not at all my self. And I hated it.

My head ached, like a million, very pissed off bees were ricosaing around in my skull. I shifted, leaning my back agasint the wall, head in hands. I kicked off half the covers, trying to breath.

I jumped, there was a knock at the door.

"Echo?" For a moment I paused, still disoriented by sleep and wondered what Theo was doing at Leah's, then I remembered that since leah was out of town for the next few weeks I'd been shipped off to stay with Theo and Billy Black. "Are you alreight?"

"Yeah," I panted, trying to clam myself down._ Just a dream, just a dream. Just a stupid, silly nightmare._ "Just a dream. I'm fine. Go back to bed." My heart stil hammered in my chest, I felt like I was going to be sick.

"Again?" he asked through the door.

"Yeah, you tend to dream when you sleep. It's just not always pleasant," I snipped.

He pushed opend the door, ignoring my protests. Lets just say the most I ever wear to bed is a tank top and too-short shorts. I pulled the bankent up higher.

"Knocking is a nice thing," I glared.

"You knew I was there," he defended.

"So that makes it ok to bardge in-"

"Changing the subject wont work, Echo," he warned. "Are you okay? This is the third night in a row."

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's a dream. It can't actually hurt me," I pointed out.

"There are other kinds of pain."

I didn't even bother to bite back the growl in my throat and Theo shot me a look.

"Is it the moon?" He asked.

I nodded, "Could be…. Probably, actually." I dreamed of killing all the time. But I never felt sick afterwards… I'd always felt - to my horror - good.

"Maybe you should talk to someone. Maybe Nick went thought the same thing," Theo sugeseted.

"That'll be the day," I mused, "when I go to Nick for therapy."

"Your options are kind of limited here," he pointed out. "Nick is a lot like you. Maybe that's why you can't stand him."

I scoffed, and shot a glare that could turn you to stone. "I am nothing like him," I hissed with clenched teeth.

He waved his hands in defense, "Okay, okay. Just… think about it, alright? I can drive you up tomorrow if you like."

"Get out."

Seeing he was not yet forgiven for his insult, Theo left, pausing at the door frame. "Get some sleep, okay?"

"Yeah," I had no intetion of going back to sleep. Not after that. There is only so many ways you can watch someone you love die at your hands, but my sub-consious was not very creative. Over and over, on a bloody loop, I watched someone die. I never once knew who it was, all I knew was that I loved him. And he was dead.

To my horror, I dozed off on the way up to Nick's. It lasted about twenty minutes before Theo took pity on me and snapped me out of it. Before I knew it we were there, Theo seemed to have the route memorized now and drove without even thinking. Thorn's car was gone, but Nick's was there in the driveway.

I hadn't seen my sister in three days. Belive it or not, I don't think I'd ever been apart longer.

I opend the door, the screen slamming shut behind Theo and me. Nick stood in the kitchen shirtless, a cup of coffee in hand and a spatula in another. The sent of pancakes wafered though the air.

"Seriously, Nick? It's past noon," I scolded. He jumped a good foot in the air and cursed.

"Oh….. Echo. I didn't know you were going to visit today," He stammered.

"I'm full of suprises," I mocked.

He glanced down the hall, like he expected a monster to jump out and eat his face off.

"Hey, I have a question-" I froze mid-sentence, because Morrie cut me off.

"Hey there cowboy," she purred and I think I threw up a bit in my mouth.

Then she walked in.

I heard Theo curse behind me and get his car keys out, ready to make a run for it if Nick went into mate-mine-Hulk-smash mode.

She froze, eyes wide. A deer in the headlights. "Ummh…." Morrie stuttered. "Hey, Echo." she was wearing nothing but one of Nick's button up shirts, her light hair tousled. A blush worked its way up her face as Nick moved to block her out of the way from Theo, wielding the spatula like a weapon.

"You know what? I don't want to know. I'm going to leave, and next time you'll do something to warn me so I don't walk in on… whatever _this_ is." I backed away, heading for the door, whishing I could run away and burn my eyes out of their sockets.

"Um…. The pancackes are ready," Nick mumbled awkwardly.

"I'm going to leave…." I made my way to the door, feeling sick.

By the time we made it to the car I was ready to throw up.

"Now we know why Thorn isn't there," Theo mumbled.

I gave a bitter laugh, "Yeah. Next time have her warn us."

"Well, that accomplished nothing."

"Yep. If anything it was counter productive." Nick and Morrie…. It was revolting, I gagged and theo gave me a look. "that was moe then I ever wanted to know," I explained. "Why couldn't my sister have picked someone else? ANYONE else. I am torn between throwing up and going back there to tear him limb from limb." I was shaking now, anger corsing thought as the innital shock wore off. What the hell had I thought they were doing in that house? Was I honestly so naive?

"Ugh," I groned, resting my forehad on the dash. "Can you remove my eyes for me? Or better you, do you know a brain surgen who can cut out that of my memory?" I pressed my palms agsint my eyes, "My eyes want to unsee."

Theo laughed and before I even registered I was laughing too. Though my hysteria I gasped, "This sucks."

He nodded, still laughing, "Of all the tarribul sistuations…"

"I know," I agreed.

We drove a few minuets in silence.

"Sorry that you didn't get any of your questions answered. What exactly are the dreams about? I've never seen you so distraught," his voice soffrend.

I stoped laughing, instantly sobering up, "I guess you kind of have a right to know, considering that I've kept you up the past few nights…." I mumbled. I took a deep breath. "It's all distoried, everythjng is in glimpses and flashes. Nothing makes any sense. It's dark and cold. And then I'm running. But then it cuts off, there's so much blood and screaming. Then someone's dying…. And I always feel like its my fault, like I killed him." _Like I loved him._

"Is it the same dream? Every night?"

"Yeah. It's always the same, but everytime it hurts just as much. It's not like my other dreams where I feel... _good_ after the kill. I feel sick, physically, emotionally."

"The dreams could be evolving or-"

"Or my guilt is catching up to me." I filled in.

"I was going to say your sub-conscious was trying to tell you something, but that works too."

"Do you remember what Nick said? …..About going mad?" I spoke quitly, half-hoping he wouldn't hear my words.

"You're not going crazy, Echo," he stated firmly. "You're not losing your mind."

"How do you know?" I challenged. "How could either of us possibly know what's going to happen?"

"Because your just _not_. Okay? You're not crazy. You're not losing it."

I stared at him for a second, reading his eyes. It wasn't that he knew I would be fine, it was that he _needed_ me to be fine. He was just as afraid as I was.

"Hey," I said, putting a hand on his arm. "I'm not going anywhere."

He nodded, jaw set, eyes averted. "Echo-"

The windshild burst, cutting him off. The car spun on the ice-slick roads and hurtled into the forest. It flipped, glass shattering and slicing our skin. It finaly stoped- slamming into a tree. All there was was blood and smoke.

I gasped, opening my eyes and clawing the steetbelt off of me. My chest ached and I couldn't see thanks to the blood dripping into my eyes.

I turned to Theo, glass sparkled in his hair and his eyes were wide, unfoused. He was gasping, like a fish. A pole impaled him, stright though his abdomen, nailing him to the seat. I could see now, it had gone straight thought the window and pinned him, causing the crash.

"Hell," I breathed.

"Yeah," his voice was coming in stops and starts. "Hell." His hands clenched and unclenched the pole. "What happened?" he choked, gasping for air.

"Someone threw a pole at us?" I tried and he sputtered a laugh, grimacing when blood began to dribble down his lips. When the scent hit me I went bat-shit crazy, trying to get as far form him as I could in the small, crushed car. A string of curses fill my tongue, all of them dying. Dark blood was coating his hands, making them slip agisnt the pole. He grunted, trying to pull it out.

"I cant get it out. Echo I-I-I need you to…. to help me here," he slured. He was having trouble talking, I racked my brain for whatever medical thing that meant. His body was going into shock. If I didn't get that thing out of him, he would bleed to death. But he'd bleed to death if I pulled it out. No he wouldn't, I reminded my self, he was a shifter. He could heal fast enough.

Since the car was so small there was noware for me to go but his lap, that was the best way for me to pull the pole out with out damaging his organs any more then they already were. I tore off his seatbelt, carful not to jostle him. I got within a foot of him and froze, every muscle in my body tightened. Everything dipped and darked except for the red coating him. My thought burned and my mind blurred.

I closed my eyes squeezing them shut. _Go away, go away. please not now. Of all the times to lose it…. _My hands were bloody. So, so bloody. The warm red was slick on my fingers, dripping, smearing, burning into my skin and sending me into a frenzy. I became a puppet on stings. The hand-that-was-mine-but-was-not lifted to my lips, my mouth opened, tongue tasting bloody velet. The fire melted into passion, like hot oil pouring over my body and down my thought.

"Echo?" Theo's voice was faint, he was no longer gasping, instead his breathing was getting shallow.

A growl rose in my thought. My puppet hand reached out, whipping the trickle of blood from his forhead and tasting it.

"Echo," his voice was getting weaker. Dead things were no fun… dead. _Dead_. _Theo_. I snaped back, jolting up, my skull creaking against the ceiling.

"I'm sorry," I started to cry. "I'm so sorry."

I gripped the pole between my shaking hands. My throat burned and sung. I held my breath. And to my horror, Theo started to cough, blood bubbling up over his lips.

I tightend my grip on the pole again, mustering my stenght. I froze suddenly, icy filling my vains. My brain scattered. My hunger was replaced with nausea. I curled in on myself for a moment, moaning in pain.

Theo could smell it too, he froze- eyes becoming lucid for an instant. "Musta' landed… outa th border," he tried to speak. "Crap."

Inhumanly cold hands grabbed my shoulders and threw me a good ten feet back. I slamed into a tree, the wind knocked out of me and I blacked out for a moment. My body laid crumped under the tree. I peered out though my hair, all I could make out a a black cloked figure as it neared me.

The man grabbed me by the throat, eyes bright red, the color of blood. My blood. Theo's blood. Morrie's blood. All blood. Any blood. I reeled, choking and his ice hand tightend. This must be a vampire. Why was he was trying to kill me? I had no idea.

He stared at me with an unearthly hatred. "My, my," his words were drawn out, slow. "I don't suppose you remember me, do you?" My feet were a good foot off the ground, I flailed. The world bulred and suddenly we were back at the car. Theo was struggling to get the pole out, his fingers fumbling. Another vampire stood calmly. The blond vampire tossed me down. I gasped, and coughed, trying sand, but only managing to pull my self up with the help of the car's crushed hood.

The vampire gripped the pull and for a hopeful moment, I actually thought he would take it out and this would all be over. His face was expressionless, but his eyes were cruel. "I never cared much for your kind," he hissed, jamming the pole deeper. Theo screamed and I did too, lunging for the blond vampire.

But I froze. The other vampire held out his hands, black smoke poured form them. Theo's eyes rolled up in to his head and his body slumped forward. The pole protruded out the other side of the seat.

I screamed- or tried to at least, but it came out as a half-choked wail. I didn't acknowledge the creeping numbness of my senses. Even after my eyes went blind, all I could see was the vampire stabbing Theo though, his eyes rolling up into his skull. I couldn't move now, couldn't speek, see, hear, or feel. I had no idea what was going on outside of my mind.

Theo was dead. And I had killed him.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Sorry it took so long! Editing and whatnot.**

**_Morana_**

I perched on the edge of the massive red tinted wood table, "Are you sure you have to go?"

Nick leaned over me which put his arms on either side, caging me in. He smiled and kissed my forehead, "God do I love you."

I smiled and wrapped my arms around his neck, reeling him closer, "If you loved me, you would stay with me and not leave to go out."

He shook his head, "That only worked the first ten times, now I'm a real man who," Nicholas gave me a look, "wants to stay, but can't." He wrapped his arms firmly around my waist and anchored me closer to him. His lips touched mine and it was fire and fire. My fingers dug into the fabric on his shirt and my legs wrapped around his waist, pulling him closer. He made a breathy sound and kissed my throat, my collar bone, the skin around my lips. Nicholas slid my hair from its ponytail holder and pressed closer against me, leaning me back on the table.

I laughed, "I thought you were leaving." He pulled back a bit and I stared at him from the table. He looked at the door then back at me very torn. I laughed again, "Oh, go on and go to your meeting with Thorn. I know she misses you when you're not there to balance out her overly excited side."

Nicholas drew back and straightened his black duster. He cleared his throat and was picking up his things to go when he paused and smacked the table next to me, hard. I jumped and he instantly looked apologetic. "I just forgot something," he kissed my nose, "I'll be right back."

He ducked into his office and was back with a brown cardboard box that had holes cut into the top. Nicholas handed it to me with a grin, "It's a present to be with you when I'm not, which will be very little, but all the same."

I slid my fingers under the tape, a habit left over form irritating Echo when opening birthday presents. Carefully I opened the sides to see two yellow eyes staring back at me. For a second I stopped breathing then I scooped up the little thing. It was black with a crooked ear and a knot in its tail.

"Meow," it said very loudly like it wanted to make our ear drums pop.

"Nicholas! You got me a kitten?"

He took it from me and held it up in the light, "Not just any kitten, it has six toes on each foot. Look," I touched its little paw and saw that the cat did have a lot of toes, but somehow it made it even cuter. "And it's a girl, couldn't have another man around my girl."

I rolled my eyes, but took the kitten back, "I'm going to name her Mino after the fish because she is so tiny."

I set her on the table and she curled up into a little ball looking very content next to me. Nicolas tucked a stray curl behind my ear and cupped my cheek, "I'm just glad you're happy," he pressed his lips to mine once. "Take care of my heart, I leave it with you."

And he was gone into the rain. I thought about calling Echo and talking about what happened earlier, but refrained and decided to save myself the embarrassment. I bustled around the huge house making myself busy with housework. Nicolas had tacked up a few pictures we had taken, in the living room above the black couch. It doubled as a library with books stacked everywhere from the hidden coffee table to next to the windows. I fingered the photo that we took yesterday by the beach. He had tried to take the picture himself and all you saw was the ocean and our noses, a couple of my astray curls caught the lens.

I made a trip up the stairs to don my jeans and t-shirt with Mino trailing behind me. The upstairs was really just our room, a huge bathroom, and a closet. I decked back downstairs through Nicholas's office, the living room, and into the kitchen. Echo had abandoned a picture of us outside a motel on the counter. Her arm was slung around my shoulders and I was sticking one leg out into the wind. I took one of the plastic letter magnets and pinned it to the fridge. There, I thought, now Echo lives here too.

In a split decision I picked up the house phone and dialed Echo's cell phone. She didnt pick up and I went to the answering machine. "You've reached Echo," her voice was flat, "and probably don't want to talk to you. Just leave a message if you must."

I smiled, "It's Morana, I just wanted to make sure that we were alright. Alright, I love you lots Echo. Talk to you soon." I clicked off and brushed Mino's fur with my free hand.

She purred and shifted so that I could scratch her head, "You're so good aren't you? I love you-" I froze. Cold ice set into my veins. I knew something was wrong with Nicholas, I couldn't feel him. The light that balanced out my own was gone - vanished like a snuffed out candle. In a panic I shoved my bare feet into his over-sized hunting boots and pulled on his courdey fur-lined jacket. Mino followed and I hastily placed her in the bathroom with a litter-box, water, and food so that he wouldn't be uncomfortable while I was gone.

I shut the door and snapped open the screen door, I darted along the side of the road. He said that he would be right back, he said that everything would be fine. My hair flew off my shoulders like a flashlight's beam behind me. The crushing fear that everything was going to fall around me, hit me again. The ground was slick with rain and the skies were already filled with dark clouds.

"Nicholas?" I yelled as loud as I could. My voice bounced back at me full force. Not good, my inner self fretted. He wouldn't just leave me without saying something. I would be able to contact him even then though. I ran then into the woods and let the branches snap in my face and pull out my hair. I tripped a couple times, but I powered on until I saw a faint light ahead in the distance. I could've ran yards, feet, miles - everything was a blur of what was Nicholas and what wasn't.

Then it happened, the air thickened then thinned again. Sometimes I wondered if this happened to people who weren't shifters when crossing the border. The dim light blared out of headlights ahead of me, but the car was facing the wrong way, the metal was twisted. Except I knew that dingy blue color. It was Theo's car that he always drove around in. Oh God, oh God. My stomach rolled as I edged closer, my feet crunched on shards of broken glass that was everywhere. I saw movement in the car's driver seat and a vaguely familiar mop of chestnut brown curls.

I screamed, "Theo?" Someone grunted which I took as a yes and practically attacked the car door. He was slumped over the steering wheel and I realized in horror that his chest was soaked with blood. His blood, I gasped and tried to sit him up only to be stopped by a six foot long pole that went from the windshield through him and the car seat.

"Oh my God, Theo!" I cried smoothing his hair away from his battered face.

He moaned, "No intimate touching or else Nick will have my head," he heaved, "on a platter like that saint I can't remember the name of." I touched the outside of his wound and tried to force a laugh for his sake, but it wasn't working.

He yelped and I sighed. "I have to pull it out alright? You have to heal." I pushed tears out of my mind and focused on climbing up onto the hood of the car. Glass was in my fingers, but I couldn't feel a thing - I only thought about Theo and how I had to save him.

Theo nodded with effort, "He... He took her." I grabbed onto the edge of the metal rod and swayed. "They took Echo."

I couldn't think properly, I just yanked it out with strength I didn't know I possessed. It slid out of him with a sickly sound. He screamed and I screamed, we screamed together as I threw the pole to the side. It smacked the ground as I fell off the hood and onto the glass sprinkled ground.

I swore and took off to Theo who was throwing up blood onto his front, he didn't even have the strength to turn his head. With a belief that he had to heal I managed to strip off his shirt and use it to stop up the massive hole that ran through his middle. He spat blood to the side and leaned back as I shifted through the backseat for a first aid kit. It turned out that he kept the important stuff underneath the fast food wrappers. Of course.

At the bottom I found gauze that I wrapped around his stomach to replace the soaked shirt. Two pills at the bottom stopped vomiting so those got shoved in his mouth along with a bottle of stale water he chocked down. In a daze I supported him till he got into the backseat that wasn't destroyed. And got him on-top of a thick and warm wool blanket. His eyes flittered once before he was dead asleep.

I didn't have a car and I couldn't leave him to find one so I got the glass out and the blood that was smeared everywhere in the cab of the truck. The passenger door was gone, the metal ripped off by something deadly. Echo was there. Someone took her, I thought quickly and we had to find her.

With the newly cleaned car I climbed into the passenger seat and decided that we would have to spend the night here if the car didn't work, but seeing as that it looked crushed the chances of it working was low. I climbed over the divider and into the driver's seat. I jammed down onto the gas once only to hear the car sputter and die. I heard a dry chuckle from the backseat.

"Car is definitely dead Mora," Theo said thickly.

I turned, sat on the divider, and examined his bandages. "Does it hurt more? How's your head? I don't have a phone. Do you have one? Where's Echo? Is she alright?"

He sighed and took my hand, "Too many questions. Slowly."

"Was Echo with you, when you crashed?" I asked. His face was pale and swallow like he had seen a ghost.

He nodded then coughed to the side, to my relief it was a normal cough with no blood. "Yeah, we were coming back from your house and we were going to Billy's. We were talking about her nightmares when the windshield just exploded and I had a pole through me. Echo went crazy and she has this look in her eyes...I-I-I can't explain it," he didn't have to, I knew exactly what he meant. It meant that she was unstable. Deadly.

I moped his head with a piece of gaze soaked in water, "Go on Theo, she was looking at you and what happened?"

"And she was going to pull out the pole when this vampire yanked her out of the car. He said some stuff I couldn't hear then two more appeared out of nowhere and one had this power of pain and the other wielded this black toxic smoke-"

I stared at him, "Vampires?"

He gave me an annoyed look, "Yes and the blonde girl and boy vanished leaving Echo with the blonde male who dangled her next to the car. I tried to hear what he said, but I was so weak and then they were in the car and she looked so sick. The male pushed the pole deeper in me and then he was gone."

I gasped, "Echo! He took Echo? He took my sister?" I was on the verge of breaking down, "You heard him say nothing? Nothing?"

Theo's eyes looked dilated, the pupils huge. "He said something like, 'I've never liked your kind'." His head rolled and looked at me, "Does that help?"

Did it? No. I had no idea what it meant and how we would find her. That was when the tears came rolling down my face. This only meant one thing; they took Nicolas away too.

I sniffled and wiped my nose with the edge of my shirt, "Sure Theo," I curled up next to him for warmth, "it helps a lot." And that was when a heard a shout.


	13. Chapter 13

**Echo**

_I gasped, breath shallow and weak. I didn't dare look at my injuries. I didn't dare look at the blood leeching from my body. I stumbled on, a hand pressed to my ribs, trying to hold flayed skin to the bone. It was still dark, the shadowed forest spinning me in circles. "Help," I cried, my voice wasted away into a whisper, "please. Someone." I couldn't feel the pain anymore, though my body quaked with every step. My feet slipped out in front of me. The full moon whirled in my vision as I collapsed in the snow. I opened my eyes, ice clumping my eyelashes together. All I could see was my bloody hand laid out against the snow until the moonlight poured into the dense woods, reveling the silhouette of a wolf before my eyelids fluttered shut..._

_I burst awake, a gasp sending cold winter air stabbing my lungs. I sat up, confusion making my head spin. "Echo?" Morrie flew to my side, voice high and terrified. She started to sob, clutching me to her like I might disappear at any given moment. I sat shell shocked, awkwardly patting her back, confusion displayed on my face for all to see._

_"I'm so sorry," she babbled. "This is all my fault! If I hadn't run off-"_

_"Shh- its okay. I know how you are when you're upset."_

_"But if I'd have lost you as well as father-" she cried harder._

_"I'm fine, Morana."_

_"No! No your not! When he brought you here you were covered_ _in_ blood_. Everyone thought you were dead. What happened to you, Echo?"_

_Unconsciously, my hands searched my skin for any sign of injury. Not even a scar. "How long have I been asleep?"_

_"About a day now. I came as soon as I could." She replied._

_"No- that can't be right." I felt at the skin of my arms and legs, all perfect, smooth white skin. I clenched and unclenched my hand- the one that had been broken. "How is this possible?" I breathed, feeling dizzy. I sat down abruptly, hands clenching the furs. _

_"How did I get here? And where is here, exactly?" I asked, trying to distract my self from the impossible lack of injuries._

The world exploded. Everything shattered, my head exploded. It felt like my brain had burst behind my eyes. My body screamed, clutching my skull. I took a few, gasping breaths before my senses dulled once more…

_I had never been one for crowds or parties. But Morana insisted, and where she went I followed. She looked like a vision; her soft cream dress blossomed into layers after a tight bodice. Her hair was pinned up; loose blond locks hung lose in perfect ringlets. I was dressed in a matching dress, the only difference being the color - mine back. My hair was loose, as well, the dark curls framing my pale face. _

_Morrie smiled, "Don't look so petrified! It's only a ball!" She slipped the gold mask over her eyes and adjusted the matching silver mask on my face._

_"I feel like a fool," I confessed. "I don't like it here to begin with. It doesn't….. feel right," I cringed at my own words._

_"You're just nervous, being in the city and all. We hardly get out of that small village." She twirled a piece of her white-blond hair._

_"Then I suppose we are in _eternal_ dept to your new friend." I mocked, seeing the blush creep up her neck…_

When I came to all I saw was blackness. I closed my eyes, trying to sooth the stinging. My whole body shook, not form cold, not from fear… form….. blood loss? That would explain how sickly I felt. But where was I bleeding?

"Echo?" Nick. Nick was here. Where here was, I had no way of knowing.

"Nick?" my voice was thin, wispy. He didn't answer, instead he just started swearing under his breath. I opened my eyes, withering in pain and seeing nothing. Something spilled fresh across my cheeks - tears? Was I crying? "Nick what is wrong with my eyes?" My heart sped up. "Why can't I see?" There was a rising panic in my chest.

"You're bleeding…from your eyes." He choked out.

"What?!"

"Echo….what did they do to you?"

"I don't know… I don't know!" Fear and frustration bubbled up inside me. Practical, come one Echo. Get your head in this. "Where are we? What's going on?"

"The Voltori got us, no thanks to our little friend." The bitterness in his voice rivaled my own.

"You don't mean-"

"Yes, the one who took my Morana." He said. Under normal circumstances- the phrase 'my Morana' would have made me gag, but I had other things on my mind.

"Where is he?" I couldn't hear the other lycan at all.

"Dead. Vamps dragged him out a few hours ago. He tore out his throat before I could even get his name - let alone beat him to death myself." Nick spat. "I was on my way to meet Thorn when they grabbed me. What about you?"

I froze, breath stopped - everything coming back to me so fast I was nearly sick.

I don't know how long it was before I spoke, "There was an accident."

I herd Nick suck in a breath, "Are you okay? Was anyone hurt?"

I nodded, shielding my blind eyes from him. "Theo's dead," was all I could think to say.

I never did get to know his reaction- because just then the scene changed, I felt the floor fall out from my feet and myself falling, the air squeezing from my lungs...

_Morrie stood, silhouetted against a tall, window. She turned to look back at me, smiling. And suddenly- everything shattered. Morrie was slumped against the same wall, bloodied and broken. Nothing changed by her, the party-goers continued whirling around the ball-room, laughing and dancing. The warm lights suddenly felt cold. All I could see was Morrie's body. All I could smell was the blood dripping from her neck._

_Then- all there is was screaming. Screaming, my screaming. I reached out- trying to reach her body thought the horde of people. She was covered in blood, it dribbled down her chest from the tare in her thought. Her eyes were huge and still. Unblinking, unseeing, unmoving. I collapsed, feeling everything in my shutting down. I reached forward, lacing my fingers in her cold bloody hand. I closed my eyes, choking on the sent of her blood._

_Hands lifted me, taking me out of the building, taking me away from my sister… my sister. My dead sister. I froze, mind scrambling, letting out a long, scream from the hollow of my heart…_

"Echo!" Nick shouted.

I snapped my jaw shut, eyes flying opened and the scream dying in my throat. I still couldn't see but I felt the blood streaming down my face. I panted, pushing myself against the stone-wall.

"What the hell is going on?" He demanded.

I caught my breath, trying to sooth my nerves and the churning of my stomach as I thought up a way to explain what was wrong with me- nothing made sense. I racked my brain for anything, anything torn might have mentioned, anything I might have read….. "Reincarnation," I muttered under my breath, body going suddenly ridged, with disbelief and horrid realizations. "I'm seeing my past life…."

"What?"

"I was reincarnated. Morrie too," I struggled to wrap my head around it. "But she… she died." I felt the sob form a hard ball in my thought and I coughed, clearing it away and regaining composure. "But she died," I repeated. "He killed her." Everything began to flood back into my brain, "He killed her and I tried to kill him in revenge- but he couldn't die. So I-"

"Took the one I loved the most." A new voice snaked into my head.

I stiffened "_Caius_." He was here. "Let Nick go. He's done nothing against you."

I could tell Nick wanted to protest, but in the end- the only one he really cared for was Morrie. If he getting himself out of here was best for her, he would do it. Better one then none. I agreed.

"Oh," Caius muttered, "that's an unfortunate side effect, I didn't think my sister's spell included anything physical."

I racked my brain… his sister. His sister had been a witch- after I had killed Caius's other siblings she had cursed me…. but with what?

"Refresh my memory, what exactly did she do to me?" I snarled.

He paused for a moment, and I wished I could see what he was doing, he could have a knife to my throat for all I knew. I'd never felt so helpless, being blind. "She severed your bond. She made it so you, in return to what you had done to us, would kill everyone you ever cared for." I could here the smile in his voice, "Clearly it has lasted longer then I ever thought possible."

"Why are you doing this?" Nick asked and I stifled a sigh. I'd always made fun of how characters always ask the bad guy the same things; who are you, why are you doing this, where am I? but when it comes down to it - there's really not much to go off of, but I suppose it's a conversation starter, if nothing more.

Nick got no response, instead I herd Caius leave.

In the back of my mind I understood, he hated us - all of us - all the lycans and shifters- because of what I had done.

And we would die here for that.

**_a/n: For the sake of my sanity, the past-names will remain the same, as will the descriptions, for the most part. Thank you for keeping with me- I know it's been an incredible amount of time since we updated last, blame me. School got hectic for the both of us. I know this makes no scene- but everything will work itself out in the end. -remainNameless6_**


	14. Chapter 14

It was a haunting feeling, to be so empty inside. It was like someone had scooped out all the good parts and left me to rot. Echo and Nicholas were as much apart of me as my heart, my brain, a vital organ that one needs to survive. I gasped and the cold air punctured my lungs like needles. I fisted my hands in Theo's shirt and laid my head against the hole in his abdomen. A stark-like drowsiness took over and my eyes fluttered against my will. I heart someone approaching. Running. Clawing out. I coughed and my eyes flickered shut only to see Echo's face printed on my eye lids. _Why? _She whispered. _Why do you let feelings get in the way, Morrie? _I don't know. I don't know. Nicholas, I wimper. In my head or aloud I couldn't tell you. Darkness took over and their faces were swiped away with the sensation of drowning. I was drowning and I wasn't resurfacing to the surface. There was no rebirth with my face hitting the water, there was only my head exploding into pieces all over everywhere.

My eyes burned like liquid propane was being lit on fire. _Just a dream. Just a dream. _I chanted to myself, but as the fire burned I just measured my heartbeats and how many dream seconds it took until the fire was dim. Nicholas's face appeared. Eyes gleamed molten gold in the lava of my fire. I reached for him, but he was too far.

He watched me timidly like a cat with prey and in frustration at this "dream Nicholas", I screamed. Dream Echo grabbed my shoulder and lifted me off the ground. Shut up, her hands said. Shut up, her nails clawed. I looked at her face and saw thick trails of bloody tears tracing their way across her pale skin. She pushed me backwards and all I knew was falling.

"Mora! Mora!" Someone pinched my arm. My eyes flew open and I screamed bloody murder, my fingers digging into the cushion I was on and my pale blonde hair thrashing about. Mid-scream I stopped to see a white plastic ceiling above me and a sliding airplane window, Thorn's sleeve pulling a blanket over me.

I sat up and pushed sweaty hair away from my face, "Wha-?"

Thorn was kneeling next to me with a grim expression plastered all over her perky face. "Mora, I need you to listen to me, alright?" She didn't wait for me to agree, but instead marched right on. "You're on a private jet that is tanked and ready to go to where the Voltori are located. Theo is already healed and is resting in the back bedroom with all of your supplies. I can't go with you, but I need you to get Nick and Echo. You need to bring them home."

My breath quickened, "How?"

"I-I don't know, but not by force. No, the Voltori would outnumber you two in the force department. You need to get Caius and reason with him," Thorn paused and hesitated.

Irritated I snapped, "What, Thorn? Whatever it is, spit it out! We really don't have time for petty secrets." I slapped my hand over my mouth, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean for it to come out like that."

She waved me off, "It's fine. I just want you to be the one to reason with Caius, I think he likes you." Before I could interrupt her and ask her to explain, Thorn took a pad from a nearby table and scribbled something down. "Here is the address and the directions. I rented a town car that will meet you at the airport."

Thorn stood and rushed to the airplane door, "Good luck. Don't die."

"Thanks," I muttered. Then on second thought I shouted, "Take care of my cat!" The door shut and the plane booted up with an electric hum. I strapped myself in and pressed a hand to my forehead. We were going off to save them and there was a high death risk if we didn't think of a plan.

I scribbled on the pad until a tiny flight attendant scooted out with a navy uniform. _Good God! How much money does Nicholas's family have? _She spotted me and hurried over with a flourish. "Hello, my name is Amanda and I'll be your flight attendant today. Is there anything I can get you?"

Startled I unlocked my seatbelt and pulled the blanket tighter around my shoulders. "Water is fine, thanks." Amanda practically ran behind the curtain and back with a cold bottle of water.

"Anything else?"

I lowered my voice, "This is kind of embarrassing, but is there by chance another set of clothes that I could change into? I wasn't really aware that I was going to be internationally traveling."

She smiled, "Yes, of course. Miss Thorn placed some for you in your friend's room in the back." I smiled and walked carefully over the padded carpet and into a small hallway that looked way too spacious for a plane.

"Theo?" I whispered timidly.

A door pushed open and a tired, floppy haired Theo pushed open the door. I grinned and threw my arms around him then pulled back to examine his nonexistent stomach hole.

"Guess you aren't holey anymore, huh?"

He smiled and pulled me in, "So not funny Mora." Theo looked at my ragged ensemble, "You look like you've been in some sort of gang fight." He raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms, "Are you sure you aren't injured?"

My heart hurts. "I'm doing, but I'm not here for the free therapist, you know. Where did Thorn put the clothes for me?"

Theo sat on the small bed lightly and pointed at a cheap dresser stapled to the floral wallpapered wall. "In there." I retrieved a new shirt and jeans that looked like they were from an ad then backpedaled to the bathroom.

In the sink I washed my hair and all the blood from my body. Although I wasn't injured, black and navy bruises riveted my arms and legs decorated with gashes from the glass. I slipped on the jeans and retucked them into Nicholas's overlarged boots. After I wiped all the blood from his jacket, I layered it on over the clean shirt.

After that there was no sleep. Just Theo's heavy breaths and my crying.

"Italy!" The happy voice chirped from the speakers.

I moaned and stood from the bathroom floor a little uneasily. Hand on my head; I wandered out to where the seats were stapled down. Theo was sitting on one with the bulky duffle bag.

"Theo?" I called a bit too loud for the plane. My voice sounded distant and sad.

"Yeah?" Having seen me, he hustled over and zipped up Nicholas's jacket. "Keep this zipped and the hood over your hair. It is nice and all, but very blonde."

"Okay," I said tightly. With the hood over my head Nicholas's smell was invading and strong around me. It was so painful to not have the connection, to not know if they were alive.

Theo, having assumed the position of leader, started to tug me after him down the steps and into a waiting car. He talked loudly as I attempted to gaze out the black-tinted windows. "The plan is really simple Mora. All you have to do is talk to Caius, drag it out, and be charming. Easy. While you do that, I'll get them out."

I shivered at the thought of talking to the kidnapper of my sister and my boyfriend. Theo flicked the AC vent at the shiver and eyed me nervously. "Do you understand the plan?"

Sure. Of course I understood it perfectly, but what I didn't get was how I escaped. I cleared my throat and leaned heavily against the hard chair, "Theo, how do I get out of there?"

He looked outside which really was nothing because we couldn't see outside the blackness. "Didn't get that far yet."

"Oh." The thoughts were panicked. _He was going to leave me to die. He is going to leave me to die. _

Theo clenched his hands, "Talk your way out of it, Mora. I know you'll get out just fine."

I snapped. Just like that I broke into millions and millions of pieces that wouldn't—couldn't be tapped or glued or pieced together again. I was on the floor and there would be no getting back up. My words, all strung and tired sounded wicked, "Theo, I'm going to tell you a secret, alright?" I waited a beat then launched, "You're over estimating my ability and…and I think that you want me to be left behind. I just can't figure out why. I mean, you're possibly my best friend after _Echo_._"_

On her name his eyes went cold and I knew. I knew he loved her and he would kill me for her. I hated him for it, but I loved him for it too. You see I would do anything for Echo. And I would let Theo do anything for her.

"Mora, I don't want you to—"

I held up my hand. It shook. "Shut it, Theo. It's okay, just—just don't lie to me about it, 'kay?"

He pursed his lips, "It's right ahead, here. On the left." I couldn't see anything, but just stared out at the window. At the trees I would never see and all the people that I wouldn't see.

I muttered something of acknowledgement and when the car stopped, I jumped out and the light slanted in my eyes. Theo didn't say anything to me. The plan was simple enough to follow, distract Caius long enough so that he could get Echo out.

My prize: Nicholas's freedom.

Consequences? Whatever Caius wanted to do to me.

There was a large stone arch smiling behind a huge fountain. The thong of people was thick. Everyone's smell bouncing around, the sway of bodies mesmerizing.

I stumbled on the cobblestones and after tripping over a baby carriage I landed successfully on the pavement under the arch. Now it looked huge and holey with a gaping smile and no teeth. Shadows were slithering from the darkness and I knew that once I set foot in them, I wasn't turning back.

The sun heated my skin as I picked up and dragged myself for the shadows. For Nicholas. For Echo. "My dear sweet Morana has returned to me," someone spoke farther in the darkness.

"Hello?" I couldn't see in this darkness either.

A hard feeling pulsed through me. _Memories_, my brain recognized. _I'm remembering something. _

_ Hands wrapped firmly around my waist twirled me with a sensual grace unknown to humans. Lips were pressed against my earlobe, the breath was cold; a scorching cold one might associate with angel's fire._

_ "My dear beloved one," the voice whispered. I saw only the rivet colored hair curling out on the edge of a crisp, white dress collar. Skin pale in comparison to the collar with soft scars edged and curled like half-mooned stars._

_ My head turned on its own accord. Pale blonde styled ringlets pinned to my head bobbed while one fell down onto the fair skin of my back. I pulled back and saw his tall figure clad in fitted formal dress. Gold buttons and ivory painted across him. Caius, Caius, Cauis. I loved to think of us like this forever, frozen in eternity._

_ I looked down and saw my dress snagging amuck in our shoes. I smoothed down the tight bodice around my chest and adjusted the falling layers of white taffeta. Caius watched me predatory-like, red eyes rounded with awe._

_ "You are the most magnificent creature I could ever lie my eyes on," he whispered with a spin, my dress arching out from my body. The light gleamed on my diamond engagement ring that choked my slender finger. I grasped his iron shoulder a bit harder, trying not to trip on the edge of my own gown._

_ I blushed from the complement. A dark red staining the white, "Thank you, Caius." The music drummed around us, around all the other red-eyed people that danced. The vampires. I edged closer to Caius so that we were practically breathing the same air. In the corner of my eye I saw Echo slip from the darkness of the gold accented ballroom. Before I could acknowledge her, Caius whisked me in a different direction towards the heart of the floor._

_ He pulled me closer so that my eyes bore into his. Blood against brown. We were so close that we could have kissed, but his words hunted through me, "I love you so much." I smiled. He leaned in and pressed his cold lips against the crease in my neck._

_ And that was when he killed me. _

My eyes flew open to see Caius standing above me. A dangerous smile curved around his lips. I choked on my own air. _What was that? _I sputtered and dragged my wrist over my eyes to wipe away the sweat gathered there.

He eyed me, "Hello, dear." Caius looked the same with the same blood hungry eyes that stared out of a wide skull.

I shuddered. My brain kept catching on the words, "I-I'll do anything if you let them go. I'll even stay here with you, just _please _let them go."

Caius clamped a hand around my forearm. I didn't notice he was dragging me farther in until Nicholas's boots made a funny squeaking noise on the ground. "Are you going to kill me?"

He glanced back at me then at the darkness ahead of us. "No. No, I just wanted to show you something, Morana. How could I ever kill the one that I loved more than anything else in this world or the next? How could I ever dissever my soul from the soul of my beloved?"

I felt the sensation of ants crawling over my bare skin. Nicholas was the other half of my soul and I was practically dying in Caius's arms at his mercy. "You've killed me before," it wasn't a question, but a statement.

Caius's hand was tense around my arm, "I see that being around the heart of the Voltori where my sister lives must be giving you those infernal memories back."

I stopped short and he almost yanked my arm from my socket because he didn't notice. "That really didn't answer the question, Caius. Did you kill me or not? It wasn't that hard to understand, was it?"

He grinned, "Still as snippy as last time, huh." Caius straightened his shirt's buttons and started to edge me forward again, "I did kill you, yes, but only because there was no other option. A vampire cannot love a human and that would mean certain death for me, so I had my sister keep a lock of your hair so that I could always find you when you reincarnated."

"You killed me because you were in danger?"

Caius fixed another grin that was barley visible in the absolute darkness of the caves. "Exactly, but also as revenge for what your sister did to me," he didn't wait for me to ask what she did. "She made me angry and I had you, whom she loved, so I killed you for vengeance and my own benefit. Do you understand now, dear?"

My eyes adjusted to the small light radiating from what looked like a medieval chandelier hanging from the wall. "Understood," I barked for fear of Echo and Nicholas. There were three twin iron doors with tiny metal grates at the top, flanking Caius on either side of where he held my arm.

"This is your punishment, but first I need you to change out of those awful mundane clothes."

Confused, I turned and tried to pry his fingers off my arm that was turning blue. "_My _punishment? For what exactly am I being punished, Caius? Saying as that I am the one in need of punishment."

His eyes hardened, "Change and then maybe you'll remember. Just know that if you attempt to escape that I will kill your sister and it will be so painful that you will hurt."

I made a sound in my throat, broke apart from him, and pulled open the iron door he gestured to. The room was empty except for a brass-framed mirror hanging on the first wall and a hanger cloaked with a brilliant red dress.

I bit my lip and threw all my clothes, with the exception of Nicholas's boots, onto the floor. The dress was in two pieces; the first was a lace up corset that attached to a full taffeta balloon skirt. Halfway through lacing it up I froze; this was the dress I was wearing in my memory. Another thought hit, _he had kept it this whole time. _For Echo and Nicholas, my brain mused. For Echo and Nicholas.

The mirror threw back the reflection of a girl with hallowed out eyes and skin so white it looked like snow. Her once gold hair now looked as white as her skin, falling across her shoulders in full curls. The dress made her look like a dead corpse all readied for burial with the exception of black boots poking out from the bottom.

She turned. I turned.

Caius clapped his hands when I came out. "So beautiful, so beautiful—my little Morana, come. Once your punishment is over you can come meet my dear sister."

I gulped as he wrapped a forceful arm around my tiny waist. I wish I was dead, but if I were dead so would Nicholas be. I couldn't live knowing I had killed Nicholas. The dim lights flickered and I couldn't help, but whimper at the thought of being stuck down here for eternity.

Caius pulled open the door and I saw Echo next to Nicholas, both bloodied and both screaming.


	15. Chapter 15

"Jane, stop," Ciaus's voice weaved though my skull. I gasped, body going limp. Ciaus dismissed the girl. I struggled up, arms quaking. I felt as though I'd been electrocuted until I bit my tongue off. All I registered were the Ciaus's words, "I will give you a moment alone, my love." And then he left, leaving with us the sound of sobs.

"Echo?" A voice was think with tears, I blinked against the pain struggling to focus. My breath came and went in tight hisses. Nick was unconscious.

My breath whooshed out of my in pure dread, "Morrie?"

The fear in my voice must have been apparent, I heard her stifle a sob. I stretched a shaking hand out and found Nick's shoulder, I worked my way up to his neck and searched for a pulse.

"He's okay, don't cry," I tried to walk in the direction of her sobs, but my legs quaked with the residual pain from the vampire, Jane.

She only sobbed harder, "Echo…"

I made it to the bars, I stretched a hand though and felt Morrie curl her matching hand around it. I stood carefully and rested my head against the bars. "I'm so sorry. This is all my fault. God, Morrie…. What have I _done?_ Oh hell…." I gripped her hand tighter, suddenly, voice hushed and urgent. "You need to get out of here, Morrie. he will kill you. He has before. I know it makes no sense, and I hope that I will be able to explain whats happened to us one day, but right now I need for you to run. Don't look back, just haul ass and get out of here. Don't come back, do you here me. I'll get Nick out on my own. I'll be fine," I lied, "just promise me you will run, okay? Can you do that for me?"

She didn't answer, instead she fell onto her knees, dragging me down with her - her cries raking her entire body. She clenched my hand, refusing to let go.

"Echo…" she whispered, voice wet with tears, "what did he do to you? To Nicholas?"

"That's not important," I insisted. "Just please get out of here," I begged, "Morrie, _please_. You have to listen to me, get as far away as fast you can. Go to La Push, tell Leah and Billy what happened. They will protect you. Okay? Can you do that for me? _Please_…. Morrie, you _have_ to do this for me." I felt like crying now, but I bit it back, _"Please."_

Nick stirred, "Morana?" he mumbled, quickly shaking off the pain in his bones and racing over. "Dammit, Morrana!"

She sobbed a bit harder now, I could feel her shoulder shaking with the force of it all. "Nicholas, oh God. No."

I guided myself over to the side, letting Nick be with Morrie for a moment. They kissed though the bars, embracing as much as they could. They gave their exchange of I-love-you's and I tried not to listen into to something so private.

Just then I heard the door open, I heard Morrie gasp as Ciaus pulled her away from Nick, and then the sickening smack of a skull on marble. I winced and Nick shot up, screaming at Ciaus.

"You are free to go," his voice sounded oddly controlled and calm for someone who had set his sites on killing me for centuries. "You will not be pursued, so long as you do not return to Italy. Is that understood?"

I stood there on shaking legs, unsure of anything. Nick said nothing.

A hand grabbed me though the bars, digging into my arm- Ciaus. But don't think, little wolf, that I have pardoned you." He tossed me back and walked out of the room.

"Echo," a voice whispered. And suddenly my breath didn't feel quite right in my lungs.

"Theo?" Nick gasped.

I blinked, wondering if I was hallucinating or whatever you could call it - again.

I closed my eyes again struggling to keep from falling back. I grit my teeth and jammed my nails into my palm like the pain might keep me focused and in the moment.

The sound of rust grinding against concrete filled my ears and vibrated though my skull, followed by a string of curses and two words, "Your eyes…"

I brushed my hand over my eyes and once again found them slick with blood. My lips felt numb.

Footsteps neared me. "Echo."

I didn't speak.

"Echo," he said, he was next to me. Then a hand was on my arm, skin burning into mine. I kept it set into my mind that this was only in my head, anything else would hurt.

"Echo," Nick spoke, voice tired and pained. "it's real. We're getting out of here."

I took my hands and searched for the hand on my arm, solid. Real. I let my hand drop. "Your not dead?"

Theo laughed quietly, "I thought I was." He paused, "Can you both walk?"

"I'm fine," nick answered.

I could walk fine but… "Theo… I can't see anything."

He swore, I doubt my eyes were a very reassuring thing. We couldn't afford to slow down.

"Come on," he helped me stand. "We don't have much time."

I stumbled along, Theo guiding me. Nick followed at a limping pace.

"Morrie's here, too. We need to find her," I spoke fast and quietly as we navigated the halls.

"She'll meet us outside, don't worry about it," Theo replied, brushing me off to quickly for my taste, but we needed to get out of here as fast as we could. I had a feeling Ciaus would go back on his agreement.

My legs felt like rubber, but I stumbled on blindly, one hand gripping Theo like a lifeline and the other stretched out in-front of me just in-case.

Soon we broke the surface and were outside, I could feel the icy wind on my bare arms.

"Where's Moranna?" Nick stopped.

Theo's grip tightened, "Nick, come on. We don't have time for this." I could hear the rattle of car keys and a door open.

"Not without my sister," I demanded.

"Echo-"

"Where is my Morana?!" Nick was yelling now.

Theo let go of me and lunged at Nick, who I assume was running back inside.

I took my chance and struggled forward until my bloody hand felt the cool exterior of the placed we'd just left.

I winced as I heard a head slammed into the car. At that moment I didn't care who it had been. I just needed to get Morrie out of there. My breath felt light in my lungs. I understood now - why Morrie was with Caius, why she was sobbing through the bars, and why Theo had come alone. She wouldn't be coming out of there. He had traded her for us. Caius would kill her, my heart fell to the ground, ripping right though me. Whatever his obsession was with her, it was a dangerous one. One that always ended in her death. Panic filled my throat and pure liquid nitrogen was pumped into my veins. The world dipped and darkened for a moment and I collapsed, sliding against the wall, but it was only for an instant.

I heard the car door slam after nick's unconscious body was tossed in. I tried to hurry but my lack of sight made it near impossible. Theo ran over to me.

"Echo… come on. We'll come back for her," he tried.

I quaked in anger and pain. "You traded her for us? You bloody bastard! Morrie was never up for negotiation. She isn't a bargaining chip! She is my twin sister and you've damned her to death!" I lashed out as he threw me over his shoulder, trying to cause him any sort of pain.

With one hand he opened the car door and forced me in, I fought him all the way. But this was all hard to do when you have endured torture and can't see a damn thing.

"So your _kidnapping_ me?" I asked, outraged.

"Yes."

"He's going to kill her. He _always_ kills her. It's this sort of sick obsession he has." I hissed at him as the car rumbled on down a cobblestone road. I gripped my hands in my lap, twisting my finger until I felt pain.

"He's not going to kill her," Theo insisted, taking a turn.

"Yes he is. He does it every time!" I struggled to get him to understand. "Morrie and I, we're reincarnated. We've had a past life or lives, I don't know. But he kills her. He always kills her."

He changed the subject, "Your eyes-?"

"It happens whenever I remember. A side-effect from a curse Cauis's sister put on me after I nearly killed him." I was having trouble hearing, weariness crushing down on me and forcing the air from my lungs.

We drove on in silence, me silently seething and planning every possible way to escape, him talking to Thorn on the phone.

He hung up, "Thorn has a jet waiting for us. It's only the pilot and co-pilot so we won't have to explain anything to anyone. No one will see us."

"You don't get it, do you? You _killed_ her. You just killed my sister." I dug my nails into my palms, feeling everything and nothing all at once. "I hate you," I growled. It was pathetic, but it was the only punch I could throw.

And he took it, "I know."

With that, the anger and fear coursing though my body like blood, my eyelids became too heavy to hold open any longer.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Okay so, these are taking a long time to pump out, but they'll be done eventually. Make sure to read and review.**

**Morana**

Echo moved to the side and I saw Nicholas animate to life. "Dammit Morana," he cursed, his voice the sweetest thing I'd heard in a long time. His dark hair was singed and he stank of gasoline.

I let out a small moan as he reached though the cold bars and pulled me as close to him as he could. My body was so skinny that I could slip both my feet and arms through to him. He wound his fingers through my tangled hair and brought my face closer to his.

I could see the black specks in his sunlight eyes and the way they were red-rimmed with pain. His clothes were bloody and ragged on his broad frame. "I love you so much, my love," the way he whispered it was entirely different from the way Caius did. Nicholas's voice was consumed in me while Caius said it as if it was merely a name for me.

My hips were flush against his and even in this place of horror, I felt the love swell in-between us. "I love you more," I said lightly. He gave me a look to say that there was no way it was true, and I silenced him by pressing my cheek bones against the bars and kissing him softly. He made a breathy noise and held me tighter. I was so close and yet… A cold arm wrapped around my waist and hurled me out of Nick's arms.

I felt my head slam against the floor. Hard. Firecrackers danced in front of my eyes as the immense pull of pain dragged me down. I heard Nicholas yell, Echo cry out, and Caius's shoes scuff the ground beneath them. I closed my eyes briefly before I saw Caius above me; his thick gold hair was across his creased forehead. He smiled at me before I saw the last firecracker go into the darkness.

_Nicholas smiled at me and let his fingers trail down my face. I made a sound in the back of my throat; it felt nice to be touched in a way that wasn't searching for blood. His nose and features crumpled in as he dropped away from me. I screamed as his face turned to Caius's. Sharp nose. Angelic smile. Gold hair. My blood boiled as Caius stalked forward and grabbed me by the throat._

_ He sneered, "Ready?"_

_ I screamed again as the bones in my neck popped. _

**Day One in Prison**

Someone was tearing the fabric of my dress. My eyes jolted open and searched in vain for the person. A thick strap of leather was in my mouth and tied around my limbs so I couldn't move. I made a muffled cry for help.

A light clicked on above me. Caius was silhouetted against the press of darkness. He had ripped my corset open so that I was completely exposed to the icy air except for a very thin piece of fabric over my breasts. I whimpered as he slid a cold hand from my hipbone, into the dip of my navel, and slowly up. Caius stopped and cocked his head to the side, "Don't make me go any farther, my little shifter."

My knuckles whitened as I squeezed my fingers together in their confines. I made another soft sound as he pulled back. "There is something that I just must tell you, my dear."

Caius pulled the leather strap into my mouth just as I gunned up a scream. He slapped a hand over my mouth and fixed a smile on his face. "If you scream, I will make them all come back for a visit. We don't want that, do we?"

I shook my head violently and let the thick leather strap against my neck make the skin raw. "What did you want to say?" I squeezed as much malice as I could into those words, but he didn't seem to notice.

He let his fingernails trail on the soft skin of my stomach, cutting me open lightly and letting the blood gather. "I just wanted you to know that I love you, my dearest," Caius said.

I coughed and spit to the side as far as my head would go. "Don't-don't say that to me. You can't destroy someone that you love. It's impossible. Maybe you wanted me once, lusted for me, but there is a big difference between that and love. So don't say you love me when you don't."

His face-hardened, "Because you know the best about love, don't you? You loved every single one of you friends dearly, but they did not love everyone back in the same return. Your sister hates your little boyfriend and he hates your sister and her admirer. Your sister's admirer hates your boyfriend and doesn't love you to the same extent that he loves her. That's why it was so easy to break you all, because there is no love to bind you together. That's why it was so easy to break you."

I sucked in my cheeks and bit back the tears. "What do you want from me, Caius? I can't serve as decoration in your gloomy palace."

He smiled and pulled out a thick metal piece, "I want to sever your connection to the werewolf." Immense pain welled in my heart as I thought of Nicholas without me. He would spiral out of control; back to the way he was before, and worse of all he would think I was dead. Ever since I had arrived here with Caius I had basically blocked the bond so that he wouldn't be in pain when I was, so that he could keep control. Severing the bond was in direct violation of the mating code and I feared that I couldn't survive it.

"No. No, please, no. Caius, no, no, no, no. No," my voice fumbled and I was nearing total hysteria. Tears gushed from my eyes, down my cheeks, to trickle off the side of my chin.

Even now I couldn't bring myself to tell Nicholas goodbye.

Caius balanced the metal tong on the white fabric a couple inches away from where my heart started. "No," I whispered. _No no no no no no no no. _The word made spirals of panic seep into my blood.

"But, I have to, dearest. I have to or I'll kill them all," he said. I didn't make a sound as he slit the fabric and ripped it off my body. _Them or me, them or me, them or me. _It began as a silent chant until my lips were forming the words on their own accord.

Caius looked me over with a smile on his shapeless lips, "You are utterly beautiful." A tear streaked at his words as a wrongness feeling skittered in my stomach. "I will just plunge three of these strips of metal around your heart and my sister—the witch, remember? —Will sever the connection."

I closed my eyes. I felt the metal graze my skin for an instant before it was driven deep into my skin. The scream welled in my throat before I released it out. The pain was something I had never felt before and I never wanted to feel again. It felt so…so that my own soul was curling in on itself and heaving.

"_One. _For the body."

I gasped as I felt the ground crumble around me and the thick ash fill my nostrils. I was drowning with the sensation of a fire roaring in my chest. A delusion, my mind said. Real, my body screamed. Sweat trickled down my neck as I tried to adjust to the pain that enveloped me in its sweet arms. My back arched and a fresh scream dribbled out through my ripped lips.

I was barley aware that a piece of metal was sticking out of my body. At this point I was barley aware of anything except for the slow drum of my heartbeat. In my haze, I felt another piece of metal steadied over the other side of my heart. I screamed again as it was plunged inside me. I withered and shook erratically as it took over me again.

"_Two. _For the mind." It was a sharp cut to out mind bond and for the first time I felt completely alone. I turned my head to the side and started retching until I was vomiting over the side of the table. My heart was beating too fast and the blood was slick all down my front.

I coughed and hacked and moved my head just to stare at the invisible ceiling. I couldn't see Caius, but then I couldn't see anything except for the navy color of the darkness. My teeth ground in my head—a way to push away the pain.

"_Three. _For the soul."

Before I could scream, Caius pushed the last metal piece over the third part of my heart. I started to choke as the pain became unbearable. My body shut down quickly, as did my mind. I started to make small stuttering noises, although my throat didn't want to talk. I had been screaming and calling for the entire time.

I let out a harsh cry, "Echo! Echo, please save me. I'm so terrified. _Please, Echo. _Nicholas…Nicholas…Nicholas…Nicholas, where are you? I need you Nicholas…Nicholas...Nichola…Nic…" I was slowly losing the ability to have words spew from my mouth.

The world went dark and it was, for a very long time.

I went in and out of consciousness only to see the shape of a fiery-haired slip of a girl moving over me. The ache in my chest was fueling her somehow as her nimble fingers worked to keep me alive. I didn't eat or drink anything unless either Caius or the girl forced it upon me.

All I knew was the missing. All I knew was the heartbreak.

**Day Thirteen**

I woke with a start, my breath catching and dying in my throat. My chest ached badly and I could feel the blood crusted around it, a new corset laced over the untreated wound.

Where I was, was very dark, the furniture's outlines barley visible. I was lying on a bed; my legs and arms out like a discarded Barbie's. My tangled hair had been smoothed back into a neat braid, the dress I was wearing a deep violet, and my feet empty of Nicholas's boots. His name cut through me and left my heart lying on the floor.

The lamp was gas, which took me forever to flip on, but when I did I saw how much damage Caius had done. A mirror poised on a wall depicted a girl wearing a full ball gown, she looked beautiful, but bruises colored yellow and navy polka-dotted her skin. The girl unlaced the front of the corset and pulled it down to reveal an infected chest wounds. Three large gashes that should have killed her were there along with scrapes that tormented her face and arms. Spidering from the gashes was a purple bruise that traveled from her heart to her back.

I felt sick and turned quickly enough to throw-up into a trashcan by the locked metal door. I sighed and wiped my mouth with the back of my hand weakly. Frail and tired, I fell back into bed where I fixed the corset and thought of Echo, Nicholas. Where they alive? How was Echo? How was Nicholas?

Knowing how bad my pain was made me wonder if Nicholas thought I was dead…which meant Echo thought so too. I drew my legs to my chest and huddled there, as the tears didn't come, but instead silent shaking. My weak fingers picked at the neutral bedspread until they were tired.

The door unlocked to my dismay, in waltzed Caius and his best friend, Jane. Jane looked like a teenager with dark gold spun hair piled high on her head cloaked by a piece of black lace. Her dress was tailored to her body made of an expensive silk and through the dim light I could see her matching red eyes.

She made a sound, "Hello, I'm really sorry about this, but you tend to scream quite too often. The neighbors complained," Jane gestured in the air and even added an eye roll, "about it. Caius and I devised up a plan to fix it."

Caius held up a needle and a spool of black thread. "We'll just sew it closed," Jane smiled and flashed over next to me on the bed. Before I could protest, she put me in a headlock as Caius threaded the needle and neared my skin. I gasped in agony as he threaded it through my lips and knotted it. Done.

I didn't dare open my lips, but instead struggled to get away from Jane like a mouse from a cat that's holding its tail. She smiled again, "So much better, Caius, huh? Look how sad she looks. Oh honey, want something to eat?"

Malice broiled in me. I wanted to hurt. I wanted to kill. I wanted to _go home._

**Day Fourteen**

I choked and a little bit of my will to stay alive died. I clutched at the blanket on the bed. Every breath hurt me, as did every facial movement. Living was hard when your face is sewed up tight like a marionette. The door to my prison unlocked as usual and in stepped the usual Caius. His red eyes grabbed me and threw me over his shoulder with a grunt. He moved so quickly that watching the ground made me sick.

He paused outside the doors to yet another room. Jane pulled it open with a prance and turned on the lights. A dozen humans were laid on tables in formal attire. Blood leaked into glasses as vampires clinked them together and chatted merrily about the weather. If Nicholas was there, he would cover my eyes and hold me tightly, but Caius wanted me to see what he could do—the power that he held.

On the ballroom floor was twenty-some pale-faced blood leeches swirling around with dead women in their arms. Occasionally they would stop and bite into their not-quite-dead necks.

I turned to Caius.

He smirked and pulled me close enough to him so that his hands were dangerously close to my top-half. My chest wounds trembled and I thought again: _How was he keeping me alive? _His cold breath blew into my face as he leaned forward and pressed a revolting kiss to my sewn lips.

"Sweet silence," he muttered before sweeping my blond braid to the side and biting hard into the line of my neck. I went slack in his arms and he held me up as the blood was continually drained from my body. The blood I needed, the blood I barley had any left of.

I thought of Echo, of Nicholas. I wanted them to be the last things I thought of before Caius killed me here in this room full of dead humans and alive dead people. I wanted them to know that I loved them more than anything.

Yes, this is what I want to think of, but the only thing I can think is how painful this is, of how much I want to die.

**Day Fifteen**

There are no bones left in this bag of blood and marrow.

**Day Sixteen**

I cannot eat nor sleep nor drink. I do not know how I live. I see the red haired girl often now. She doesn't speak to me. I cannot speak to anyone.

**Day Seventeen**

Today I resolved to die.


End file.
